Landforms created by the erosional and depositional work of wind, dominant in hot deserts and other dry, sparsely vegetated regions; "aeolian" refers to Aeolus, the Greek god of wind.
- Wind erodes by deflation (lifting and removing loose particles) and abrasion (sandblasting of rock surfaces).
- Erosional features: mushroom rocks (gara), yardangs (streamlined ridges), inselbergs (isolated residual hills), and deflation hollows.
- Depositional features: sand dunes, of which barchans are crescent-shaped (horns pointing downwind) and seifs (longitudinal) lie parallel to the wind; and loess, fine wind-blown silt forming fertile plains (extensive in China).
- The Thar Desert of Rajasthan shows barchans and shifting dunes; wind action there is most effective in the dry season.
- Vegetation, by binding the surface, limits wind action, so aeolian processes dominate where plant cover is sparse.
The barchan (crescent) versus seif (longitudinal) dune contrast, the deflation-versus-abrasion pair, loess, and the Thar Desert example are recurring desert-geomorphology facts.
Barchan (crescent dune, mobile) versus seif (long, parallel to wind); deflation (removal) versus abrasion (sandblasting); loess is wind-deposited silt, not a dune.
Wind erodes (deflation, abrasion, yardangs, mushroom rocks) and deposits (barchan and seif dunes, loess) in deserts like the Thar.