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Alluvial fans

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Encyclopedia of Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

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Introduction

Alluvial fans are depositional features, formed of coarse gravel sediments, created where high-bed-load streams enter zones of reduced stream power, and deposit the coarser fraction of their loads. The resultant landforms are usually fan-shaped in plan and wedge-shaped in profile (Bull, 1977). They occur commonly in two topographic situations: at mountain fronts and at tributary junctions (Harvey, 1997). They are subaerial features, however if they extend into water they are known as fan-deltas.

Sediment transport and deposition processes on alluvial fans range from debris flows, to sheetfloods and channelized streamflows. Fans range in axial length up to 10s of km, though many fans described in the literature range in size between ca. 100 m and a few km. As scale increases there is a tendency for the dominant process to change, from small debris-flow dominated tributary-junction fans (debris cones), to mixed processes and sheetflood dominance at intermediate scales, and...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, University of Liverpool, P O Box 147, Liverpool, L69 3BX, England

    Adrian M. Harvey

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  1. Adrian M. Harvey
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Geography and Geology, McMaster University, 1280 Main St West, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4K1, Canada

    Gerard V. Middleton

  2. Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T IZ2, Canada

    Michael J. Church

  3. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G I, Canada

    Mario Coniglio

  4. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 21218, USA

    Lawrence A. Hardie

  5. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, N6A 5B7, Canada

    Frederick J. Longstaffe

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© 1978 Dowden, Hutchinson & Ross, Inc.

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Harvey, A.M. (1978). Alluvial fans. In: Middleton, G.V., Church, M.J., Coniglio, M., Hardie, L.A., Longstaffe, F.J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-3609-5_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-3609-5_3

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

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