Morphology of Fixed Sand Dunes for Paleowind Reconstruction in Northwestern Oklahoma

This study selected five areas of visible dune topography along the Beaver River and Cimarron River in Cimarron County, Beaver County and Woods County by using existing maps, digitized aerial photos (NAIP images), and digital soil surveys. Sand dune crests were manually mapped over the digitized aerial photos in ArcGIS. Wind vectors were inferred were from mapped crests to establish wind directions at the time of dune formation. Relative age was established by assigning generation numbers to dune fields based on visible forms and vegetation development. The corroboration of this relative age was performed using a combination of soil series and vegetation associations as well as visible erosion on dunes. Each generation comprised a period of major eolian activity, presumably resulted from a dry phase.