Sorted stripes on sub‐Antarctic Kerguelen Island

• Published in: Earth Surface Processes and Landforms
• Main Author: Hall, Kevin
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1983
• Subjects: Antarc*; Antarctic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/esp.3290080203; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fesp.3290080203; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/esp.3290080203

Abstract Observations of sorted stripes at nine different localities on sub‐Antarctic Kerguelen Island are presented. The study sites range from 25‐600 m above sea level and are of varying aspect. It is found that there is a strong relationship between stripe orientation and the wind direction, to the extent that at one locality stripes were orientated across a slope. Stripe width was seen to increase with altitude and, in addition, the coarse stripe was dominant at lower elevations and the fine stripe at higher elevations. At one site a secondary set of stripes was observed to occur within the fine stripe of a primary larger set. On a trachyte plug there was evidence of lateral squeezing in the formation of the stripes. A number of minor observations pertaining to the possible mechanism of stripe formation are given.