Blowout (geomorphology)

Commonly found in coastal settings and margins of arid areas, blowouts tend to form when wind erodes patches of bare sand on stabilized vegetated dunes.

These depressions usually start on the higher parts of stabilized dunes on account of the more considerable desiccation and disturbances occurring there, which allows for greater surface drag and sediment entrainment when the sand is bare.

Lastly, the third property exclaims that spatial configuration of the disturbed openings greatly influences the fetch length and sediment transportation in the exposure.

If there were numerous disturbed patches that borderline each other in a downwind direction, wind erosion may be capable of removing and transporting large amounts of sediment particles, which could create blowouts.

Thus, although the scale of the disturbances does assist in blowout formation, these characteristics generally help dictate if Aeolian processes can create a depression or not.

[3] Once an exposure has been spawned, the morphology of the blowout depends on the interaction of wind speed and direction with the stabilized dune's vegetation and topography.

[6] In troughs, the structure's topography can accelerate flows and form jets that result in maximum erosion along the deflation basin floor and laterally expand the slopes of the blowout.

Additionally, when the wind flows on top of the blowout's lateral walls, sediment transport is at its maximum in the middle axis of the trough depositional lobe, leading to formation of a parabolic dune.

A zone of separation develops along the lee slope as the wind enters the blowout and decrease in speed, yet it accelerates again as it re-attaches at the basin and flow up to the depositional lobe, where sand becomes evacuated.

[8] Even though they are more influences blowout structures have on their morphology, both types basically tend to have deflation basins eroded until they reach their non-erodible base level.