Geomorphology 138 (2012) 181188

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Geomorphology
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/geomorph

Initiation and early development of barchan dunes: A case study of the Moroccan
Atlantic Sahara desert
Hicham Elbelrhiti
Dpartement des sciences fondamentales et appliques, Institut Agronomique et Vtrinaire Hassan II, BP 6202 Institut, 10101 Rabat, Morocco

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 10 January 2011
Received in revised form 15 August 2011
Accepted 30 August 2011
Available online 22 September 2011
Keywords:
Barchan
Dune initiation
Patches and proto-dunes
Remote interaction
Trade winds

a b s t r a c t
This paper describes eld measurements that document the formation of barchan dunes in the Moroccan Atlantic
Sahara desert. The rst mechanism described is the transformation of patches and proto-dunes at Cap Juby beach
to barchan dunes of elementary size. This transformation is discussed in relation to the wind speed and saturation
length. The second mechanism is the ejection of small barchans of elementary size by other small barchans in response to the perturbation of the target barchan by two other impacting small barchans. This remote initiation is
discussed in relation to the bulk ux transported by the barchan dunes involved in this interaction and to their
morphology. Other modes of barchan initiation observed in the eld are also presented.
2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Barchans are propagating crescent-shaped dunes that form
under limited supply of sand, in roughly unidirectional winds and
un-vegetated areas (Fryberger, 1979; Wasson and Hyde, 1983;
Cooke et al., 1993). Despite the fact that barchans are considered to
be the most studied type of aeolian sand dunes (Andreotti et al.,
2002a), their initiation and interaction have attracted less attention
than their shape and migration rate (Lancaster, 1996) and are still poorly understood (Lancaster, 2009). This is mainly due to the fact that the
initiation of aeolian dunes cannot be reproduced in a controlled manner
in the laboratory without changing the density of the uid, for example
substituting air by water (Hersen et al., 2002; Hersen, 2005). Furthermore, short missions to the eld cannot allow for the observation of
any kind of initiation or nucleation (Hersen, 2005). For these reasons
the majority of prior work is descriptive. In light of this, Hastings
(1994) suggests that barchans may arise virtually spontaneously from
the bed. They may evolve from dome dunes or from other protodunes (Pachecco, 1946). Also, it has been reported that linear dunes
are often broken down into individual barchans (Lancaster, 1995).
Kocurek et al. (1992) have demonstrated and documented the initiation
of small barchans from proto-dunes via ve stages. The initial stage is
the generation of sand patches of a few cm height. This patch will be
dominated by wind ripples in second stage, followed in the third one
by the formation of proto-dunes 25 to 40 cm thick with a grain fall on
their lee slopes. In the fourth stage a small barchan of 1 to 1.5 m height

E-mail address: helbelrhiti@gmail.com.

0169-555X/$ see front matter 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2011.08.033

with a grain ow on the lee side appears. The last stage is the development of the barchan to a crescent-shaped ridge 1 to 2 m high.
Recently, wind tunnel experiments have been aimed at studying
the initiation of barchans. It was shown that a sandbox of some centimetres length and height was eroded and disappeared either with or
without sand supply (Andreotti et al., 2002a; Dauchot et al., 2002).
Other studies based on eld investigations (Elbelrhiti et al., 2005;
Kocurek et al., 2010; Ewing and Kocurek, 2010a, 2010b) and on laboratory studies (Hersen and Douady, 2005) have shown that barchans
could initiate from collisions and interaction between barchans or as
a result of variability in wind direction.
2. Field observations
Tarfaya (275615.44 N and 12557.70 W) is located in southwest
of Morocco at about 100 km from the Canary Archipelago (Fig. 1a).
The RDP/DP factor for this region was calculated by Elbelrhiti et al.
(2005) to be 0.91, which means that the region has one of the most
regular trade winds in the world. Cap Juby, which is the shore situated at few kilometres on the NE of Tarfaya is considered as a source of
sediments (sand) for the longest sand transport corridor in the world
(Arceduc, 1967; Elbelrhiti et al., 2008). Our rst observations at Cap
Juby beach show that patches and proto-dunes of a few cm thickness
are initiated directly on the beach (Fig. 1b). These slip-faceless dunes
are often present on beaches where surface moisture, roughness elements or frozen materials may vary spatially and temporally (Hesp
and Arens, 1997; Bauer et al., 2009; Davidson-Arnott and Bauer,
2009; Eamer and Walker, 2010; Nield et al., 2010). After hundreds
of metres in the direction of the prevailing winds (blowing towards
SSW), it is observed that small barchans and small transverse dunes

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H. Elbelrhiti / Geomorphology 138 (2012) 181188

Fig. 1. a) Simplied geomorphologic map of the study area. b) Photograph showing a proto-dune at Cap Juby beach. c) After hundreds of metres a dune eld composed of barchans
or transverse dunes is initiated.

of elementary size arise (Fig. 1c). The height of the slip face of these
small dunes is between 60 and 100 cm, which is considered as the
smallest height of a slip face observed on Earth (Andreotti et al.,
2002a). From these observations we can deduce that barchans may
nucleate from these patches and proto-dunes but the question is
how the sand patches can be transformed to small barchans.

3. Methodology
The dune outlines and contours were measured with hand-held
GPS receivers. The GPS points were spaced at 5 m. Simultaneously,
ground photographs were taken in order to draw the shape of the
slip faces. The dune proles were obtained by the technique of stakes.
Two lines of stakes were installed on the windward side. The rst line
was parallel to the direction of the prevailing winds and the second
was perpendicular to the rst one. Once the stakes were installed,
we measured the angle (with an accuracy of 0.1) and the distance
(with an accuracy of 5 mm) between stakes all along the prole. By
combining these sets of measurements, we extracted the prole h
p
(x) from least square ts of these datasets h p
s, where p is
2

dune height as the dune evolves, we show also the longitudinal proles of the dune heights as a function of their length.
For the measurement of patch wavelengths both at Cap Juby beach
and inside the sand transport corridor, we adopted two techniques.
The rst one consists of measuring directly their length using a tape
measure and the second consists of using aerial photographs
(Table 1). The rst technique allows an accuracy of 5 cm whereas
the second, depending on their scale, allows 0.2 to 1 m accuracy.
The volume of barchans, V, is a function of their width, W: V cW 3
(Hersen et al., 2004; Durn et al., 2008). For this study and based on
our former experience on the study area (Elbelrhiti et al., 2008), we
choose c = 1/40. The width of barchans shown in Fig. 4 was measured
using ground photographs. Systematically, six ground photographs
were taken of each barchan: one of the back, another of the slip
face, two in front of the two horns and two others showing the two
sides of the barchan. A 50 cm-high uorescent landmark was installed
on the summit of the dune in such a way that it will be visible on all pictures. This landmark serves as a reference with which to measure the
geomorphologic characteristics of each barchan, such as the horns'
width. Alongside this, an indirect measurement of the width via the

1p

the measurement of the slope, h is the height variation and s is

the distance between consecutive stakes. Once the proles were
obtained, the next time we measured the erosion (or accretion) at
every stake. This allowed us to examine the evolution of the prole
(for more details see El belrhiti and Douday (2011)). Once the proles
were obtained they were plotted in a dimensionless way by dividing
h(x) at every stake by the height, H, of the barchan. This allows a better comparison between the shapes of different stages of the dune development. In addition, and in order to capture the change in the

Table 1
Aerial photographs used in this study.
Year

Scale

Place

1975
1976
1979
1999

1/50000
1/20000
1/60000
1/20000

Tarafaya, Tah
Laayoun, Tarafaya, Tah
Laayoun
Laayoun

H. Elbelrhiti / Geomorphology 138 (2012) 181188

(1958) and Kocurek et al. (1992). These processes of increasing the

thickness around the summit and steepness on the windward side
continue until the appearance of grain ow on the lee side, which signies the transformation to a barchan dune (Fig. 2b). As we can see
on the prole measured the 12th of January, the barchan emerged
with coincident crest and brink. They were then separated on the prole measured on 13th of January via the process of the erosion on the
windward side and the deposition around the summit (Fig. 2c, d).
Fig. 3 presents additional proles showing the transformation of a
proto-dune (Fig. 3a) to a small barchan (Fig. 3b) within a few days.
The proto-dune was initially 22 m long (Fig. 3f, g). Fig. 3d and e
shows that this transformation was done at a windy time and during
a period of dominant winds. El belrhiti and Douday (2011) had
shown that small barchans in the study area accelerate; gaining
sand and their volume increase during winds blowing from the
WNW. Like the previous prole (Fig. 2 c, d), we observe that there
is an erosion area in the windward side followed by an accretion

transversal prole and a direct measurement using a tape measure

were done, allowing accuracy checks for our measurements.
4. From proto-dunes to small barchans
Fig. 2c and d shows how a proto-dune (Fig. 2a) can change its
cross-sectional shape to a small barchan of elementary size (Fig. 2b)
in a period of time less than 5 days. The proto-dune had initially a
length, , of about 15 m, without horns and slip face (Fig. 2a). The
longitudinal prole of this dune, taken on the 9th of January 2003,
shows that the maximum thickness of this dune is about 30 cm
with a grain fall on the lee slope (Fig. 2c). This corresponds to the
stage 3 described by Kocurek et al. (1992). The comparison between
this longitudinal prole and a second one taken 2 days after shows
that the windward side was eroded and the sand was deposited
around the summit (Fig. 2c, d). During this stage we can observe
that the windward side became too steep, as was observed by Cooper

183

b
1m
1m

z (m)

0.6

10/01/2003
13/01/2003

09/01/2003
12/01/2003

0.4
0.2
0

10
x (m)

15

20

10
x (m)

15

20

z/H

0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0

40
%

30

3 15

45

20
10
0

270

90

135

225
180

Fig. 2. a) Photograph showing a patch of sand taken on the 4th of January 2003. b) After a few days on the 12th of January 2003, the patch of Fig. 2a is transformed into small barchans of elementary size. c and d) Longitudinal proles showing the transformation of the patch of Fig. 2a into small barchans of elementary size (Fig. 2b). e) Wind rose of Tarfaya
for the period between the 4th and the 12th of January 2003 corresponding to the transformation of the patch shown of Fig. 2a to a small barchan of elementary size (Fig. 2b).

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H. Elbelrhiti / Geomorphology 138 (2012) 181188

1m

Length number

100
80
60
40
20

1m

0
0

10

30

40

50

(m)

e
16

20

330

(%)

14

c(m/s)

20

12

10

30
60

300

10
0 270

90

6
120

240

4
03/05/03

03/05/05

date

03/05/07

210

03/05/09

150

180

f
0.6

z(m)

05/05/2003
07/05/2003

03/05/2003
06/05/2003

0.8

09/05/2003

0.4
0.2
0.0
0

10

15

20

25

15

20

25

15

20

25

x(m)

g
1

z/H

0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0

10

x(m)

h
th(mm/day)

100
50
0
-50

-100
0

10

x(m)

H. Elbelrhiti / Geomorphology 138 (2012) 181188

zone taking place just before the maximum of height (Fig. 3f, g, h). In
addition, unlike the rst prole (Fig. 2c, d), this prole shows a second erosion area situated downstream after 16 m. In other words,
after 16 m the sand escaped and cannot contribute to the initiation
of the new barchan. This suggests the existence of critical length for
the initiation of barchans. Starting from these observations and results, we measured the length of these patches and proto-dunes
both at Cap Juby beach and between barchans inside the sand transport corridor. Fig. 3c shows the length histogram of these patches,
in which we can clearly see that regardless of the origin of the measurement, the length shows a peak around 17 m. By comparison,
Lancaster (1996) measured the wavelength of these patches between
longitudinal dunes in the Namib Sand Sea. He found that their length
is between 1 and 30 m with a mean length of 12.71 m.
To understand the effect of patch length on the dune initiation, we
consider the case of a homogeneous sand bed unstable at long wavelengths, the wavelength being governed by the saturation length Lsat
(Elbelrhiti et al., 2005, 2008; Claudin and Andreotti, 2006). The wind
velocity is unconditionally positive because it is a convective instability. This means that the perturbation in any place induces the destabilisation downstream but has no effect upstream. In fact, this
surface instability has a hydrodynamic origin. To establish this, we
consider the case of a symmetrical hump. The ow around this
bump is asymmetrical, and in particular the maximum velocity is
shifted slightly upstream to the maximum of the hump. Thus, the
maximum of the saturated ux is also slightly shifted upstream of
the summit. Due to the existence of a transient saturation, the maximum of ux is shifted downstream relative to the saturated ux by a
distance L. The question of growth or decrease of the hump is dependent on whether the maximum ux occurs before or after the peak of
the hump. In fact, upwind of the position of the maximum ux, the
ux is increasing, which means that the bed is eroded. After the maximum, the ux decreases and so sand is deposited. The position of the
maximum of ux relative to the summit determines if it will grow or
erode. If it is upstream, the summit is an accretion zone and the bedform will grow. If it is downstream, then the summit will erode. This
analysis therefore predicts that the hump should exceed a certain
length before it will grow, otherwise a small sand pile will be eroded
and disappear. The existence of minimal size of barchans discussed by
Bagnold (1941) can be explained here by the transient stage before
the saturation. The problem of initiation of barchans on a at bed of
sand (like patches and proto-dunes) can be explained by the same
processes as the hump. So every surface of sand that is sufciently
long is generically unstable against a periodic disturbance xed by
the saturation length of the ux of sand.
The saturation length is proportional to the turbulent drag length
according to Lsat 4; 4 fs d, where s and f are, respectively, the densities
of the sand and of the uid (air), and d is the grain diameter (Andreotti
et al., 2002b; Elbelrhiti et al., 2005, 2008; Claudin and Andreotti, 2006).
In the studied area the saturation length was measured experimentally by Elbelrhiti et al. (2005) to be Lsat 1.7 m. By comparison for the
Namib patches studied by Lancaster (1996), if we consider d = 250 m
as reported by Lancaster (1996) and s/f 2125, we nd Lsat 2.3 m.
It has been reported that the saturation length controls the size of
bedforms on barchan dunes m 12 Lsat and the cut-off wavelength
below which dunes disappear c 6.3 Lsat (Andreotti et al., 2002b;
Elbelrhiti et al., 2005, 2008; Claudin and Andreotti, 2006). From
Figs. 2c and d, 3f, g and h we can deduce that the wavelength under
which barchans initiate N 7Lsat. All the patches having the wavelength greater than N and surplus of sand, barchans initiate with

185

their minimal size whereas patches and proto-dunes under the cut-off
wavelength are eroded and disappear. This can be used in the future
as a new technique with which to address sand encroachment.

5. Neighbouring effect
Fig. 4a shows the contours of 3 small neighbouring barchans at
different times in the summer of 2003. The contour line of 16th
June shows two small barchans (Wbarchan 2 15 Lsat and Wbarchan
1 17Lsat, where W is the width of the barchan) situated behind the
left part of the windward side of another small barchan (Wtarget 17
Lsat). In this case, the sand ejected by the right horn of barchan number 2 is directly captured by the left side of the target barchan (barchan number 3). In the normal case, the sand ux received by any
barchan is proportional to its width (Hersen et al., 2004). In this situation, the ux is perturbed by the presence of barchan number 2 leading to an increase of the sand ux received by the left side of the
target barchan. The result is that the left side (including the left
horn) of the target barchan becomes more elongated and developed
than the right side (Fig. 4b). Similar effects of the elongation of the
target barchan limbs by collision were observed in water ume experiments (Hersen and Douady, 2005) and on satellite images from
Sudan (Bourke, 2010). Although the total volume of sand transported
by these barchans is still more or less the same during the interaction,
the internal distribution is dramatically changed (Fig. 4c). Fig. 4c
shows that the target barchan gained volume, whereas impacting
barchans (barchans number 1 and 2) lost volume. Thereby at the beginning of the collision, the rate of sand stored by the target barchan
represented 37.7% of the total sand transported; by the end it represents 52.2%. This evolution of bulk ux inside the group of barchan involved in this interaction has an effect on their morphology. This can
be justied by the fact that the volume of sand stored by any barchan
is governed by its width and the width of its horns (Hersen et al.,
2004). In other words, the ux balance determines the barchan morphology. Fig. 4d shows the evolution of the ratio of horns' width per
width of corresponding dunes during the interaction. It appears that
the width of the horns increased for all these barchans during the collision. This can explain why the impacting barchans shrink but it is in
contradiction with the increase in volume of the target barchan,
which according to Fig. 4d should shrink also like the impacting barchans. Another way to explain why the target barchan gained volume
is the ux received at its left side from the right horn of the barchan
number 2. As a matter of fact, the ux ejected by the horns is saturated or close to saturation (Sauermann et al., 2000), which means that
even if the horns of the target barchan become wide, it received more
sand on its left side. This explains the asymmetry observed on the
windward side. In addition, one can observe that the barchan number
2 could have the same effect because of the position of barchan number 1, which is situated on its left side. Accurate observation shows
that the right horn of barchan number 1 is situated near the left
horn of the barchan number 2 and, thus, cannot change dramatically
the ux received by barchan number 2.
Asymmetry and the increase of the volume lead to the initiation of
a small barchan by the left horn of the target barchan. This case shows
that inside the barchan eld the neighbouring effect can change the
sand ux leading to the nucleation of small barchans of elementary
size from other small barchans. As reported by El belrhiti and Douday
(2011) the period from June to August 2002 in the study area was
dominated by the prevailing winds (blowing towards SSW) and so

Fig. 3. a) Photograph taken on the 5th May 2003 shows a patch of sand. b) The patch showed on the Fig. 3a was transformed into a small barchan of elementary size within few days.
The photo was taken on the 7th May 2003. c) Length distribution of patches at Cap Juby beach and inside sand transport corridor. d) Wind velocity time-series of the period of the
initiation of the barchan. e) Wind rose of the period of transformation of the proto-dune to a barchan. f and g) Longitudinal proles showing the transformation of the proto-dune
into a small barchan. h) The sum of erosion and deposition calculated during the transformation to a barchan. We can see that the rst part is dominated by the erosion and is followed by a second part dominated by the accretion. The arrows indicated the area where the erosion dominated again.

186

H. Elbelrhiti / Geomorphology 138 (2012) 181188

16 June 2003

23 August 2003

27 July 2003

1
1
1
2

2
left side
3

3
4

right side
15 m

15 m

right side

left side

1
z/H

15 m

0.6
0.2
0
40

30

20

10

y (m)

d
2000
0.6

1800

0.5

Barchan 2
Barchan 1
Target barchan
New born
Total volume

1400
1200
1000

Whornes/Wdune

Volume (m3)

1600

800
600

0.3
0.2

Target
Barchan 2
Barchan 1

0.1

400
200
0

0.4

0
13 june 2003

23 july 2003

13 june 2003

23 July 2003

27 August 2003

27 august 2003

Fig. 4. a) Remote interaction between three small barchans in the summer of 2003. This remote interaction leads to the initiation of small barchans of elementary size. b) Crossprole of the target barchan at the beginning and the end of the interaction. We can see clearly the effect of the interaction on the morphology of the windward side, which became
asymmetric and more bulky on the left side. c) Evolution of the total volume and the volume of sand transported by each barchan during the remote collision. d) Evolution of the
ratio of width of the horns/width of the barchan during the remote collision.

this remote initiation, like the transformation from proto-dune to

small barchan, was conducted during a period of prevailing winds.
6. Other forms of nucleation
Other observations from the eld have shown that other conditions
could initiate the processes of barchan formation. Fig. 5a shows that a
barchan can initiate after having crossed a topographic barrier. Immediately over a cliff, the wind drops dramatically and the sand transported
by the wind is deposited to form a big sand pile or cliff top dune. The
sand pile formed is 444 m long per 60 to 67 m of width, and thus can
be considered as a long sand bed. From this sand pile arises a series of
barchan dunes.
Using a bespoke geographic information system, the GPS outlines
and contours of barchans were superimposed on aerial photographs
(for more details see Elbelrhiti et al. (2008)). As shown in Fig. 5b
and c, medium sized barchan can be formed by the fusion of small

barchans. This gure shows an aerial photograph of 5 small barchans

taken in 1976 (Fig. 5b). The GPS outline shows that these small barchans were fused on a bigger one on 2003 (Fig. 5c). The formation
of barchan dunes by collisions has been studied under water and by
modelling (e.g. Hersen and Douady, 2005; Katsuki et al., 2005),
from which it appears that the size and the position of barchans involved inuence the result of the collision. Collision and variability
of wind direction disturb barchans, which depending on their size
react by the initiation of bedforms on their windward side and nish
by ejecting patches and small barchans of elementary size from their
horns (Fig. 5d) (Elbelrhiti et al., 2005).
7. Conclusion
The nucleation and initiation of barchan dunes were studied in the
eld in Moroccan Atlantic Sahara and two mechanisms of initiation
were studied. The rst one is the transformation of patches and

H. Elbelrhiti / Geomorphology 138 (2012) 181188

187

a
300 m

50 m

50 m

100 m
Fig. 5. a) Aerial photograph showing the initiation of barchan dunes from a shadow dune accumulated after crossing a topographic barrier. b) Aerial photograph taken on 1976
showing 5 small barchans of elementary size. c) The outline taken on 2003 shows that the small barchans showed on Fig. 5b fuse into one big barchan. d) Photograph showing
the ejection of small barchans of elementary size by the horns of a megabarchan.

proto-dunes into barchans. Our results show that this transformation is

achieved during windy times and under the prevailing winds. Another
factor that controls the transformation of proto-dunes to small barchans
is their wavelength . Every barchan originates with a minimal length.
So every patch or proto-dune having a length equal or larger than the
initiation wavelength, N, will form at the minimum length (elementary
size) and the surplus of sand will be eroded and cannot contribute to the
initiation of the new barchan. Similarly patches for which the length is
less than the initiation wavelength N will disappear and cannot transform into small barchan.
The second process leading to the initiation of barchans inside the
dune eld is the neighbouring effect or the remote interaction between barchans. In fact, the position of one or more barchans relative
to each other changes dramatically the distribution of the sand transported by the barchans involved in the interaction. The target receives more sand in an asymmetric way, which leads to the increase
of its volume asymmetrically. So the target became more voluminous
and asymmetric. As a reaction, it ejects a part of the surplus of sand
which leads to the initiation of small barchan.

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