sandpiles
Tiny desert formations
Sandpiles are mounds of sand, typically created by children at play or accumulated at construction sites.
The word usually evokes beach scenes or sandboxes: The kids spent hours building sandpiles and knocking them down.
In physics, sandpile models demonstrate self-organized criticality—how adding grains one by one eventually triggers avalanches.
Rapid mountain snow collapse
- criticalityState of utmost importance
- equilibriumState of balance
- thresholdPoint of beginning
- collapseSudden structural failure
perturbation · granular · dynamics · conical · friction · packing · distribution · simulation
Wind-formed sand ridges
- weatheringAtmospheric breakdown of materials
- windAir current outdoors
- sedimentParticles settling in liquid
- depositionFormal testimony under oath
abrasion · deflation · desertification · particles · shifting · accumulation · drift · scour
avalanche
Rapid mountain snow collapse
- criticalityState of utmost importance
- equilibriumState of balance
- thresholdPoint of beginning
collapse · perturbation · granular · dynamics · conical · friction · packing · distribution · simulation · stochastic
dunes
Wind-formed sand ridges
- weatheringAtmospheric breakdown of materials
- windAir current outdoors
- sedimentParticles settling in liquid
deposition · abrasion · deflation · desertification · particles · shifting · accumulation · drift · scour · terrain
castle
Fortified medieval residence
moat · turrets · molds · sculpture · dunes · shoreline · seashells · children · sandbox · sifting
dunes
Wind-formed sand ridges
horizon · sandstorm · camel · solitude · emptiness · terrain · wasteland · isolation · serenity · infinity
sandpilescompost heaps
Decaying organic waste collections
dirt mounds · snowpiles · snowdrifts · rock formations · leaf piles
sandpilesmud
Wet soil mixture
snowdrifts · slush piles · wet cement · frozen ground · puddles
sandpilesholes
Openings through material
pits · bedrock · solid rock · excavations · trenches