Alluvial and fluvial fans are the most widespread depositional landform bordering the margins of highland regions and actively subsiding continental basins, across a broad spectrum of tectonic and climatic settings. They are significant to the local morphodynamics of mountain regions and also to the evolution of sediment-routing systems, affecting the propagation and preservation of stratigraphic signals of environmental change over vast areas. The volume presents case studies discussing the geology and geomorphology of alluvial and fluvial fans from both active systems and ancient ones preserved in the stratigraphic record. It brings together case studies from a range of continents, climatic and tectonic settings, some introducing innovative monitoring and analysis techniques, and it provides an overview of current debates in the field. This volume will be of particular interest to geologists, geomorphologists, sedimentologists and the general reader with an interest in Earth science.

Alluvial fans are important sedimentary environments. They trap sediment delivered from mountain source areas, and exert an important control on the delivery of sediment to downstream environments, to axial drainages and to sedimentary basins. They preserve a sensitive record of environmental change within the mountain source areas. Alluvial fan geomorphology and sedimentology reflect not only drainage basin size and geology, but change in response to tectonic, climatic and base-level controls. One of the challenges facing alluvial fan research is to resolve how these gross controls are reflected in alluvial fan dynamics and to apply the results of studies of modern fan processes and Quaternary fans to the understanding of sedimentary sequences in the rock record. This volume includes papers based on up-to-date research, and focuses on three themes: alluvial fan processes, dynamics of Quaternary alluvial fans and fan sedimentary sequences. Linking the papers is an emphasis on the controls of fan geomorphology, sedimentology and dynamics. This provides a basis for integration between geomorphological and sedimentological approaches, and an understanding how fluvial systems respond to tectonic, climatic and base-level changes.

Over the last twenty years there has been a major expansion of knowledge in the field of landforms and landforming processes of deserts. This advanced-level book provides a benchmark for the current state of science, and is written by an international team of authors who are acknowledged experts in their fields.

Alluvial fans are gently sloping, fan-shaped landforms common at the base of mountain ranges in arid and semiarid regions such as the American West. Floods on alluvial fans, although characterized by relatively shallow depths, strike with little if any warning, can travel at extremely high velocities, and can carry a tremendous amount of sediment and debris. Such flooding presents unique problems to federal and state planners in terms of quantifying flood hazards, predicting the magnitude at which those hazards can be expected at a particular location, and devising reliable mitigation strategies. Alluvial Fan Flooding attempts to improve our capability to determine whether areas are subject to alluvial fan flooding and provides a practical perspective on how to make such a determination. The book presents criteria for determining whether an area is subject to flooding and provides examples of applying the definition and criteria to real situations in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, and elsewhere. The volume also contains recommendations for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is primarily responsible for floodplain mapping, and for state and local decisionmakers involved in flood hazard reduction.

This extensively revised, restructured, and updated edition continues to present an engaging and comprehensive introduction to the subject, exploring the world’s landforms from a broad systems perspective. It covers the basics of Earth surface forms and processes, while reflecting on the latest developments in the field. Fundamentals of Geomorphology begins with a consideration of the nature of geomorphology, process and form, history, and geomorphic systems, and moves on to discuss: structure: structural landforms associated with plate tectonics and those associated with volcanoes, impact craters, and folds, faults, and joints process and form: landforms resulting from, or influenced by, the exogenic agencies of weathering, running water, flowing ice and meltwater, ground ice and frost, the wind, and the sea; landforms developed on limestone; and landscape evolution, a discussion of ancient landforms, including palaeosurfaces, stagnant landscape features, and evolutionary aspects of landscape change. This third edition has been fully updated to include a clearer initial explanation of the nature of geomorphology, of land surface process and form, and of land-surface change over different timescales. The text has been restructured to incorporate information on geomorphic materials and processes at more suitable points in the book. Finally, historical geomorphology has been integrated throughout the text to reflect the importance of history in all aspects of geomorphology. Fundamentals of Geomorphology provides a stimulating and innovative perspective on the key topics and debates within the field of geomorphology. Written in an accessible and lively manner, it includes guides to further reading, chapter summaries, and an extensive glossary of key terms. The book is also illustrated throughout with over 200 informative diagrams and attractive photographs, all in colour.

Most of the thirty-four papers contained in this Special Publication arise from the Fourth International Conference on Fluvial Sedimentology held in Spain in 1989. Sections deal with various aspects of sediment transport and hydraulics in flume experiments and modern rivers, the analysis of alluvial facies, geomorphic and structural controls on alluvial sedimentation, alluvial stratigraphy and basin analysis, and finally the exploration and exploitation of ores. A professional reference to the most recent research in fluvial sedimentology. An international expert authorship.