RELATION OF VERTICAL FLUX OF PARTICLES SMALLER THAN 10 MU-M TO TOTAL AEOLIAN HORIZONTAL MASS FLUX AT OWENS LAKE

The vertical flux of particles smaller than 10 mu m for a saline playa surface, the particle size composition of which was classified as loa m-textured, was estimated for a highly wind-erodible site on the playa of Owens (dry) Lake in California. The ratio of this vertical flux to the horizontal flux of total airborne material through a surface perp endicular to the soil and to the wind, F-a/q(tot), is 2.75 x 10(-4) m( -1). This is consistent with that ratio for sand-textured soils and su ggests that the binding energy and size of saltating particles for the tested surface material at Owens Lake is of the same order as that fo r sandier soils. The horizontal mass flux of saltating grains, q, in t he reported wind erosion event is 51.3% of the total horizontal mass f lux q(tot). Therefore the ratio of F-a/q is 5.4 x 10(-4) m(-1).