J. Earth Syst. Sci. (2019) 128:11 c Indian Academy of Sciences https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-018-1030-4 Grain-size distribution of surface sediments of climbing and falling dunes in the Zedang valley of the Yarlung Zangbo River, southern Tibetan plateau Jiaqiong Zhang1, Chunlai Zhang2,*, Qing Li2 and Xinghui Pan3 1State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, Shaanxi, People’s Republic of China. 2State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, MOE Engineering Research Center of Desertification and Blown-Sand Control, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, People’s Republic of China. 3Hydrology and Water Resources Survey Bureau of Weifang, Weifang 261061, Shandong, People’s Republic of China. *Corresponding author. e-mail:
[email protected] MS received 24 March 2017; revised 24 January 2018; accepted 5 April 2018; published online 1 December 2018 Climbing and falling dunes are widespread in the wide valleys of the middle reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River. Along a sampling transect running from northeast to southwest through 10 climbing dunes and two falling dunes in the Langsailing area, the surface sediments were sampled to analyse the grain-size characteristics, to clarify the transport pattern of particles with different grain sizes, and to discuss the effects of terrain factors including dune slope, mountain slope, elevation and transport distance to sand transport. Sand dunes on both sides of the ridge are mainly transverse dunes. Fine and medium sands were the main particles, with few very fine and coarse particles in the surface sediments.