Criticality and Collective Granular Dynamics Control the Emergence of Wind Ripples

Criticality and Collective Granular Dynamics Control the Emergence of Wind Ripples | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Criticality and Collective Granular Dynamics Control the Emergence of Wind Ripples Conner Lester, A Murray, Orencio Duran Vinent, Bruno Andreotti, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4451036/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 08 Apr, 2025 Read the published version in Nature Geoscience → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Periodic sediment patterns have been observed on Earth, in rivers and in sand and snow deserts, but also on other planetary environments. On Mars, the observation by rovers of wind or `impact' ripples of the same size as their terrestrial counterpart, while the atmosphere is 80 times lighter, has reopened the controversy about their formation mechanism. Here we show in a numerical simulation that the emergent wavelength of impact ripples is controlled by the mechanics of grain-bed impacts and not by the flying sediment transport above the bed: the distribution of grain trajectories in transport is found to be essentially scale-free, invoking the proximity of a critical point and precluding a transport-related length scale that selects ripple wavelengths. In contrast, when a flying grain strikes the bed, the process leading to grain ejections introduces a previously overlooked collective granular length scale that determines the scale of the ripples. We propose a theoretical model that predicts a relatively constant ripple size for most planetary conditions. Additionally, our model predicts that for high density atmospheres, like on Venus, or for sufficiently large sand grains on Earth, impact ripples propagate upwind. This novel prediction motivates wind tunnel and field experiments to test for the existence of such ‘antiripples’. Our new quantitative model provides fundamental insights about the processes involved in wind-blown (aeolian) sediment transport and may be used to deduce geological and environmental conditions on other planets from the sizes and propagation speeds of impact ripples. Earth and environmental sciences/Planetary science/Geomorphology Earth and environmental sciences/Planetary science Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files Earths2083Ga8.15u2.31.mp4 Numerical simulation of impact ripples Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 08 Apr, 2025 Read the published version in Nature Geoscience → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4451036","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":323262718,"identity":"6b73c71a-c025-4a27-8250-60e0df22f986","order_by":0,"name":"Conner 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