the surface the same amount of time as the solid lava flows right next to them. He wrote in a July 1995 article in Geology, that he concluded, "stone pavements are born at the surface." While the stones remain on the surface due to heave, deposition of windblown dust must build up the soil beneath that pavement. For the geologist, this discovery means that some desert pavements preserve a long history of dust deposition beneath them. The dust is a record of ancient climate, just as it is on the deep sea floor and in the world's ice caps. Desert pavement surfaces are often coated with desert varnish, a dark brown, sometimes shiny coating that contains clay minerals. In the USA a famous example can be found on Newspaper Rock in southeastern Utah. Desert varnish is a thin coating (patina) of clays, iron, and manganese on the surface of sun-baked boulders. Micro-organisms may also play a role in their formation. Desert varnish is also prevalent in the Mojave desert and Great Basin geomorphic province. Local names Stony deserts may be known by different names according to the region. Examples include: Gibbers: Covering extensive areas in Australia such as parts of the Tirari-Sturt stony desert ecoregion are desert pavements called Gibber Plains after the pebbles or gibbers. Gibber is also used to describe ecological communities, such as Gibber Chenopod Shrublands or Gibber Transition Shrublands. In North Africa, a vast stony desert plain is known as reg. This is in contrast with erg, which refers to a sandy desert area. See also , a mechanism of surface rock formation Notes References Al-Qudah, K.A. 2003. The influence of long-term landscape stability on flood hydrology and geomorphic evolution of valley floor in the northeastern Badin of Jordan. Doctoral thesis, University of Nevada, Reno. Anderson, K.C. 1999. Processes of vesicular horizon development and desert pavement formation on basalt flows of the Cima Volcanic Field and alluvial fans of the Avawatz Mountains Piedmont, Mojave Desert, California. Doctoral thesis, University of California, Riverside. Goudie, A.S. 2008. The history and nature of wind erosion in deserts. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 36:97-119. Grotzinger, et al. 2007. Understanding Earth, fifth edition. Freeman and Company. 458–460. Haff, P.K. and Werner, B.T. 1996. Dynamical processes on desert pavements and the healing of surficial disturbance. Quaternary Research 45(1):38-46. Meadows, D.G., Young, M.H. and McDonald, E.V. 2006. Estimating the fine soil