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Desert ripples are miniature dunes shaped by everyday breezes

Desert ripples are miniature dunes shaped by everyday breezes

Between boot prints on a sandy flat you often see regular ripples only centimeters high — the small cousins of full dunes, sorted by gentle winds.

Coarser grains gather on crests while finer ones settle in troughs, writing parallel stripes that reveal the latest breeze direction.

Scale nests inside scale. Desert ripples are wind’s handwriting sample before it signs a dune across the horizon.

Shahzad Mahota Shahzad Mahota @shahzad-mahota

Desert ripples are miniature dunes shaped by everyday breezes