AEOLIAN SAND-RIPPLES 79 



Although an aeohan sand-wave cannot be formed 

 without the production of ripples, the converse does 

 not hold, for wind blowing over a horizontal surface 

 of loose sand can produce the ripples without the 

 formation of the larger kind of wave. During the 

 winter of 1895-6 I made numerous observations 

 of this action upon the loose, dry sand of the 

 sea-shore between Branksome Chine and Poole 

 Haven, on the Dorset coast, upon the beach 

 between Poole Haven and Studland, and among 

 the small sand-dunes on either side of the 

 entrance to Poole Harbour. ' The conditions varied 

 so little that what was learnt on different days 

 may safely be combined in the following general 

 description. 



A moderate off-shore breeze after rain dried the 

 surface of the neighbouring sand-dunes and a sheet 

 of freshly blown sand began to accumulate on the 

 firm, smooth, and slightly damp surface of the 

 sandy beach. At first the loose surface of accu- 

 mulating sand was smooth, but it soon became 

 mottled, and the mottled appearance very quickly 

 changed to that of transverse ridges. These had 

 at first a length from crest to crest of i inch, 

 which increased as time went on. But the ridges 



^ " On the Formation of Sand-dunes," Geographical Journal^ 

 March, 1897, by Vaughan Cornish. 



