Sand ripples

In terra nostra est quoddam mare sine aqua sed harena tantum movetur
et intumescit undas ad similitudinem alterius et nunquam est tranquillum. *


Sand ripples are one of the many patterns that are formed in nature by the interaction between sand and wind or water. They can appear both under water on the sea shore and on dunes in the desert, and look pretty much the same, although their mechanisms are very different. The submarine sand ripples can in fact be considered as miniature sand dunes. They are also easier to study in the lab in water flume or oscillating water tanks, which make them a good system to investigate both the properties of sand transport in water and the dynamics of large-scale dunes.



* In our land is a sea not of water but of sand. The sand is moving indeed and forming waves like any other sea, and never is it at rest.