Aeolian Sand Transport Potential and Its …
107
Fig. 3 Sand dune distribution in the western Kalahari Desert and sand drift potential (Conoco
1987)
2.2 Kalahari Dunes
The Kalahari area is located in the great sand-covered plain surface at 800–1,200 m
asl, stretching about 932,396 km
2 across Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa
(Lancaster 1996). Linear sand dunes are the dominant types (see Fig. 3). In the
geologic history up to twenty thousand years ago, the Kalahari sand dunes have
been stabilized through vegetation. In difference to the Sahara Desert, the Kalahari
receives too much rainfall ranging between 25 and 250 mm/yr and causing dune
stabilization.
2.3 Namib Sand Dunes
The Namib Desert lies along the Atlantic coast. The dune belts of crescentic and
linear dunes characterizes the Namib (see Fig. 4), and are the oldest dunes in the
world about 30 million years old. The Namib dunes cover more than 32,500 km
2 .