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Landscapes in Transition – Formation, Degradation, and Regeneration of Dust Desert Landscapes

Dust Deserts in Transition

The Atacama Desert in Chile is considered the driest non-polar desert on Earth. Its dust desert landscapes are characterized by fragile surface crusts that are crucial for the stability and development of the landscape. But how do these crusts form, how and why do they degrade – and how can they regenerate? Since 2024, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), the subproject C08 “Landscapes in Transition – Formation, Degradation, and Regeneration of Dust Desert Landscapes”, led by Professor Dr. Reimann and Dr. van der Meij, has been addressing exactly these questions within the Collaborative Research Center SFB 1211 “Earth – Evolution at the Dry Limit.”

Fig. 1.: Happy vs. Unhappy crust - TOP: stable surface crust in the northern research area(© S.M.May); BOTTOM: degraded surface crust in the southern research area (© F. Reddig)

Project Objectives

The project investigates the formation, degradation, and regeneration of surface crusts in the hyperarid core region of the Atacama. The focus is on the role of these crusts in the geomorphological development of dust deserts and their interactions with climatic and biological factors.

Specifically, the researchers aim to:

  1. Determine the timing and rates of aeolian activity
  2. Analyze the resilience of surface crusts
  3. Identify feedbacks between crust stability and landscape evolution

Working Hypothesis

The central hypothesis of the project is that hydroclimatic conditions and associated microbial life are the key factors controlling the stability of surface crusts. The transition from stable to degraded crusts, and thus to a discontinuous, patchy landscape, is assumed to coincide with an ecological–geomorphological tipping point.

  • Fig. 2: northern research area, dust landscape (Google Earth/CNES Airbus & Maxar Technologies 2022)

  • Fig. 3: southern research area (Google Earth/Maxar Technologies 2022)

Significance within SFB 1211

This subproject contributes to a deeper understanding of the long-term co-evolution of Earth and life under extreme aridity. Together with other projects within SFB 1211, it investigates the Atacama Desert in Chile as a model region to unravel fundamental processes of surface dynamics and biological adaptation to extreme water scarcity.

You can find more about our fieldwork in the Atacama Desert on our excursion blog.

Edited by Luisa Loers.