A desert pavement, also known by regional names such as reg, serir, gibber, hamada, or sai, is a desert surface covered with closely packed, interlocking rock fragments of pebble and cobble size, often forming the cap of an alluvial fan. Over time a dark coating called desert varnish accumulates on the exposed rock surfaces. Because this armored surface takes a long time to develop, geologists use its presence as an indicator of how arid an area is and of the relative age of the land surface beneath it.
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Desert pavement (Wikipedia)
In Discipline: Geomorphology, Lead paragraphQuote, In Discipline: Geomorphology, Lead paragraph
A desert pavement, also called reg (in western Sahara), serir (in eastern Sahara), gibber (in Australia), hamada (western Sahara and Middle East), or saï (in central Asia) is a desert surface covered with closely packed, interlocking angular or rounded rock fragments of pebble and cobble size
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