Brousse tigrée

Spotted pattern in the Niger Sahel similar to brousse tigrée.

Brousse tigrée is a type of patterned ground that consist in alternating strips of soil with and without vegetation. Trees, bushes or grass may make up the vegetated strips. The pattern is particularly evident when seen from the air. Brousse Tigrée’s can be found in semi-arid areas in the tropics such as parts of Australia, Mali, Mauritania, Mexico, Niger, Somalia and Sudan. In these places the pattern make up resilient ecosystems that can resist drought. The pattern originates as the result of periodical overland flow in areas with low slopes but that are not flat. This, together with impermeable soils formed in semi-arid conditions produces a linear pattern of gentle soil erosion. If the slope exceeds certain values then no Brousse Tigrée pattern is formed but instead erosion rills are formed in the landscape. Instead, if the terrain is too flat then a spotted non-linear pattern is formed.^[1]

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