1: What is the principal source of the wind's load of dust and sand? How is abrasion different from weathering
460042
Dust and sand is picked up from the soil as the wind passes over it.  It's more common to pick up dust and sand when:\n1) it's a deforested area with easy 'soil access' like a desert or plains (it doesn't happen in forests, or on grasslands);\n2) the soil exposed is dusty, sandy, or contains many small particles which can become windborne (it doesn't pick up gravel, or mud);\n3) the wind speed is high.\n\nI don't know exactly about 'abrasion' and 'weathering'.  in common usage, I'd say 'weathering' is ther main category which refers to changes in an object's surface in response to exposure.  Wethering can be caused by UV exposure (sunlight), acid rain, etc etc.  Abrasion is only caused by physical rubbing across things: sandstorms, rivers, etc.  Abrasion is IMHO a subset of weathering.
929901
The evaporation from the ocean makes hot air.  Hot air moves creating charges.
104128
Wind is the primary force that creates sand dunes. Sand itself is generally created by the erosion of rock material by water and ice.\n\nThere are two types of movement that wind causes in sand. One is called saltation. Wind picks up grains of sand and gives them forward momentum, but they will often fall back and bounce repeatedly, or cause other grains to move. This is about 75% of all movement of sand to form dunes. \n\nThe other movement method is called surface creep. Surface creep is the process where heavier sand grains are moved forward along a surface as saltating grains strike them.  It is estimated that about 25% of sand movement is moved this way. \n\nAs this moving sand encounters obstacles or changes in elevation such as a basin, the irregular flow of the wind will cause sand to accumulate in the "wind shadows." However, obstacles are not necessary to make dunes. The bouncing sand grains will gradually slow, losing energy from impacting heavier grains, and the sand itself tends to slow the wind speed close to the ground. Together, this differential speed of motion among grains, and saltation drag on the wind, will begin to produce small piles of sand, or ripples. Larger grains will tend to accumulate because the wind cannot move them, and cause more ripple effects.\n\nTrue dunes are formed when relatively strong winds blow over fine grained sands. The coarser grains tend to stabilize the windward surface of the dune, and finer grains are moved by saltation upward and over the peak of the dune, where they fall out of the wind and slip downward. \n\nIn areas of active dunes the dunes will migrate in the direction of the wind over periods of years. Many of the largest sand dunes in the world are considered paleodunes that are no longer moving. \n\nTo read more about sand dunes and how they form, as well as some information on the different types of sand dunes go here:\nhttp://www.nps.gov/whsa/Sand%20Dune%20Geology.htm
663328
Dust (dirt)\nDust is a general name for minute solid particles of diameters less than 500 micrometers (otherwise see sand or granulates) and, more generally, for finely divided matter. On Earth, dust occurs in the atmosphere from various sources: soil dust lifted up by wind, volcanic eruptions, and pollution are some examples; airborne dust is considered an aerosol and can have a strong, local radiative forcing on the atmosphere and significant effects on climate. Dust is also widely present in outer space (see interstellar dust and Zodiacal light), where gas and dust clouds are primary precursors for planetary systems.\nThe physical behavior of dust follows laws that are not always comparable with that of solid or fluid matter. For example, the pressure on a box full of dust need not be uniform (See physics of granulate matter for explanation).\n\nHouse dust\nThe dust which collects in houses is composed of atmospheric dust combined with dust generated by the inhabitants, mostly from sloughed skin cells and fibers from clothing and coverings. It is removed with a broom, dusting cloth, or vacuum cleaner.\nHouse dust mites, often found in fibers like carpets and beds, feed on the organic components of house dust. Their feces, in turn, become part of house dust and can provoke allergic reactions in humans.
624816
Several people on here are actually right. The first two are both right.\n\nThe first one had the most simplistic but straight forward answer.\n\nRocks are eroded and the sediments are carried away as runoff into rivers & other low lying places. Most of this sand is carried onto the coastal plains & into the ocean & deposited there.\n\nSince the desert has very little weathering by water it is usually done by wind through a process called abrasion. Sand grains brushing up against rocks wearing it away like sandpaper.\n\nHowever, like someone pointed out earlier, in earth's past life many times the ocean as regressed & transgressed bringing deposits of sand with it. It could have gotten there by that method but more than likely these deposits became sedimentary rock first & was then worn away later by wind.
306238
Sand dunes like the ones in Colorado's San luis Valley are formed by winds and wind carrying particles have a scouring effect on the earth like a sand blaster. Wearing away at huge rock formations. Over the extremes of geological time this can make huge differences in the rock. Wind can carry small particles great distances as well and redeposit it. Much top soil is lost in this way. Any wind action such as depostion, erosion  or transportation is refered to as eolian in geological terms.
748449
through out the thousands of years, the wind has shifted dirt and debris on top of it. \nJust think, say you dropped a Penney in your yard, and came back a year latter to get, leave would have decomposed into dirt, grass would have shifted, and you would have to move stuff around to find the penny.
1115641
If it hits sand, it will often make glass.  It makes the ground very hot for a short time, having so much moisture around it draws the heat away quickly.
123869
How many grains of sand are there on a beach?\n\nSomething like that.
171188
There are several answers to this question, Atmospheric pressure. The jet stream. The spinning of the earth. But the underlying principal cause is the sun. The suns rays create heat. The heat hits the earth in an uneven way, and that temperature differential creates differences in pressure it these differences in pressure that drive our winds and move air masses of different temperatures that create weather
225500
On a philosophical level.... I would say it's a natural balance derived from natural occurrences. There are many different forms of weather, but the natural capability of movement shifts in many rotations causing a range of wind that forces climate change and therefore causing dramatic changes and patterns. on more of a documented scientific note I would say:The blanket of air that covers the earth is called\n\n  the atmosphere. The bottom layer of the atmosphere is \n\n  called the troposphere. The troposphere is where all of \n\n  earth’s weather happens. Basically, our weather is \n\n  caused by two things: the sun and moisture in the air.\n\n  These two things together can form clouds, can make rain\n\n  and form thunderstorms, and cause winds to blow. Without\n\n  the sun and moisture in the air, our earth would have no \n\n  weather at all. In fact, there would be no people on our plantet\n\n  \n             Another thing that helps to cause the earths \n\n   Weather is air masses. When two air masses come \n\n   Together, the line between them is called a front. Along a\n\n   Front there is usually clouds, rain, and maybe thunderstorms.\n\n   The movement of air masses helps to cause weather \n\n   almost  as much as the sun and moisture in the air. Without\n\n   air masses, all the earth’s weather would stay in one place
563665
its the product of erosion....soil that has been eroded from rocks become sand in the sea...then when waves move they carry the sand to the shore...
1114281
1. Smog\n2. Meteors if they burn up or meteorites if they survive entry through the atmosphere & strike the ground.
873933
Wind erosion is both a destroyer and preserver. When wind erodes a place, certainly it deposits the sediments and leaves, seeds etc. to other place, giving the other place a new life.\nHowever in some cases it acts only as a destroyer, only because of human activities as they cut the trees but don't bother to plant again. So fertile land gets wasted.
945581
Erosion is the displacement of solids (soil, mud, rock and other particles) by the agents of wind, water or ice, by downward or down-slope movement in response to gravity or by living organisms (in the case of bioerosion).\n\nDeposition, also known as sedimentation, is the geological process whereby material is added to a landform. This is the process by which wind, water or ice create a sediment deposit, through the laying down of granular material that has been eroded and transported from another geographical location.\n\nDeposition occurs when the forces responsible for sediment transportation are no longer sufficient to overcome the forces of particle weight and friction, which resist motion. Deposition can also refer to the build up of a sediment from organically derived matter or chemical processes. For example, chalk is made up partly of the microscopic calcium carbonate skeletons of marine plankton, the deposition of which has induced chemical processes (diagenesis) to deposit further calcium carbonate.
806058
Wind: Creates dunes and erodes rock\nRain: Erode the land and forms the river and lakes\nGlaciers: Formation of the glaciers is due to atmospheric effects, so is their melting, which as they slide down mountains craves things up.
32495
WIND \nAir that flows in relation to the earth's surface, generally horizontally. There are four areas of wind that are measured: direction, speed, character (gusts and squalls), and shifts. Surface winds are measured by wind vanes and anemometers, while upper level winds are detected through pilot balloons, rawin, or aircraft reports. \nWhoosh! You know that wind is moving air. But what causes the air to move? It’s the uneven heating of the earth’s atmosphere. \n\nAs the sun warms the earth’s surface, the atmosphere warms too. Some parts of the earth receive direct rays from the sun all year and are always warm. Other places receive indirect rays, so the climate is colder. Warm air, which weighs less than cool air, rises. Then cool air moves in and replaces the rising warm air. This movement of air is what makes the wind blow.