Deserts have a distinctive appearance because a dry climate controls erosional and depositional processes and the rates at which they operate. Although it seldom rains in the desert, running water is the dominant agent of land sculpture. Flash floods cause most desert erosion and deposition, even though they are rare events.
In chapters 9 through 12, you have seen how the land is sculptured by mass wasting, streams, groundwater, and glaciers. Here we discuss the fifth agent of erosion and deposition: wind. Deserts and wind action are discussed together because of the wind's particular effectiveness in dry regions. But wind erosion and deposition can be very significant in other climates as well.
