Wiktionary
n. A pebble or little stone shaped and polished by wind-blown sand.
Wikipedia
Ventifacts are rocks that have been abraded, pitted, etched, grooved, or polished by wind-driven sand or ice crystals. These geomorphic features are most typically found in arid environments where there is little vegetation to interfere with aeolian particle transport, where there are frequently strong winds, and where there is a steady but not overwhelming supply of sand.
Ventifacts can be abraded to eye-catching natural sculptures such as the main features of White Desert protectorate near Farafra oasis. In moderately tall, isolated rock outcrops, mushroom shaped pillars of rock may form as the outcrop is eroded by saltating sand grains. This occurs because, even in strong winds, sand grains can't be continuously held in the air. Instead, the particles bounce along the ground, rarely reaching higher than a few feet above the earth. Over time, the bouncing sand grains can erode the lower portions of a ventifact, while leaving a larger less eroded cap. The results can be fantastic stone mushrooms.
Individual stones, such as those forming desert pavement, are often found with grooved, etched, or polished surfaces where these same wind driven processes have slowly worn away the rock.
When ancient ventifacts are preserved without being moved or disturbed, they may serve as a paleo-wind indicators. The wind direction at the time the ventifact formed will be parallel to grooves or striations cut in the rock.
An example of a Martian ventifact was named Jake Matijevic. By analyzing its shape, it was possible to reconstruct the main wind direction which sculpted the rock.
image:Mendenhall 1905 USGS.jpg|Schist boulder pitted by sand blast near Palm Springs Station, Colorado Desert. Riverside County, California (Mendenhall, 1905) Image:VentifactMojaveDesert031511.jpg|Ventifact from the Mojave Desert near Barstow, California. image:Ventifact_at_Ventifact_Ridge_in_Death_Valley.jpg|Ventifact at Ventifact Ridge in Death Valley (Mayer, 2003) Image:Bradley_1930_dreikanter.jpg|Granite stone polished by windblown sand, Sweetwater County, Wyoming (Bradley, 1930) Image:Segerstrom_1962_USGSProPaper450C.jpg|Outcrop of granite that has been undercut by the abrasive action of windblown sand, Llano de Caldera, Atacama Province, Chile (Segerstrom, 1962) Image:Yardang Lea-Yoakum Dunes.jpg|Wind-carved sandstone in a blowout near Meadow, Texas (Stout, 2002) Image:Im Salar de Uyuni.jpg|A rock sculpted by wind erosion in the Altiplano region of Bolivia (Wilken, 2002) formation carved by high winds at Dolly Sods, West Virginia, USA.
Usage examples of "ventifact".
Then a sand drift bordered by ankle-high rocks, some of them pyramidal dark basaltic ventifacts, others lighter pitted granulated rocks.
And then it was a kind of frozen mud that was falling, filling in the holes and gaps between the ventifacts, coating their tops, then dropping off their sides, as the keening wind caused a million little avalanches.
Ribs higher in the basin were natural dams, and after some consideration, Nirgal carried some ventifacts to these low ribs, and assembled them with their facets touching so that the ribs were heightened by just one or two rocks’ height.
Ribs higher in the basin were natural dams, and after some consideration, Nirgal carried some ventifacts to these low ribs, and assembled them with their facets touching so that the ribs were heightened by just one or two rocks' height.