This book offers a comprehensive overview of the alluvial fan phenomena, including all terminology, morphology, sedimentology, controlling factors, processes and the human impact. It combines the knowledge dispersed widely in existing literature with regional case studies, color figures and photographs. The chapters provide a useful basis to understand alluvial fans and a selection of papers attached to each chapter offers additional, more focused reading. This volume is aimed at engineers, planners and especially students in earth sciences.
This book presents a complete set of studies of alluvial fan sediments in southern Iran from the point of view of sedimentology, sedimentary geochemistry, tectonics, economic geology, groundwater, geomorphology, hazards and telemetry. In addition, the book focuses on advanced topics and theory, which practically serves as a model for the study of this type of sediment around the world. Alluvial fans are an important and fundamental factor in many sciences such as geology, environmental science, natural hazards, groundwater science, agriculture and many other related sciences. Lack of accurate knowledge of their constituent sediments has always been an important problem for experts in many science disciplines. From the economic point of view, the identification of alluvial fan deposits is of particular importance. For example, alluvial deposits are the centre of groundwater accumulation, and most groundwater reservoirs within the sedimentary basin are fed by water from alluvial deposits. Most of the gold production in South Africa has been formed as placer deposits in ancient alluvial fans. In addition, a large amount of uranium placer deposits is extracted from old alluvial fans in sedimentary basins in South Africa. This book serves as an ideal guide for experts in earth and environmental sciences and hydrology.
Much of the final shaping of the global landscape is accomplished by incision of river networks. The base-level is a principle determinate controlling the global relief by processes of erosion and aggradation. In the populated world, entrenchments triggered by base-level changes may become devastating events, damaging agricultural lands, undercutting bridges and destroying roads. The aim of this book, as a chapter in fluviomorphology, is to present the base-level control when active in the continental interior, unrelated to marine base-level fluctuations along the continental margins nor to sequence stratigraphic tract models in Exxon sequence stratigraphic sense. The focus is on the morphology and the gross trends of the processes controlling channel evolution through transient signals initiated by base-level changes and communicated upstream through the drainage network. The book brings together principles and conclusions gained by field work, by laboratory studies and by models, based on the widely scattered literature. The chapters include presentation of different types of base-levels, discussing the constraints of their altitude, the degradation and aggradation responses, the temporal and spatial trends along the channel network, the controlling factors, the knickpoint transient retreat process and its rates. Special emphasis is given to the Dead Sea Rift following its extreme base-level conditions which make it a unique field laboratory. This book is relevant to students in earth sciences as well as to planners, hydrologists and engineers dealing with geomorphology and surface drainage.
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.
Megafans are partial cones of river sediment that reach unexpectedly large dimensions, with the largest on Earth being 700 km long. Due to recent developments in space-based observations, global mapping efforts have shown that modern megafan features cover vast landscapes on most continents. This book provides a new inventory of nearly 300 megafans across five continents. Chapters focus on regional studies of megafans from all continents barring North America and Antarctica. The major morphological attributes of megafans and multi-megafan landscapes are discussed, and the principal controls on megafan development are examined. The book also compares megafans with alluvial fans, deltas, floodplains and the recently recognised 'major avulsive fluvial system' (MAFS). The final part of the book discusses the application of megafan research to economic geology, aquifers and planetary geology including layered deposits on Mars. This is an invaluable reference for researchers in geomorphology, sedimentology and physical geography.
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.
Umfassendes Lehrwerk über sämtliche Aspekte der Sedimentologie und der grundlegenden Stratigraphie Das Buch Sedimentology and Stratigraphy führt in die Thematik ein und gibt den Leserinnen und Lesern Werkzeuge zur Interpretation von Sedimenten und Sedimentgesteinen an die Hand. Dabei werden die Prozesse der Bildung, des Transports und der Ablagerung von Sedimenten behandelt und auf die Entwicklung konzeptioneller Modelle für sämtliche Sedimentumgebungen ? von Wüsten über die Tiefsee und Riffe bis zu Flüssen ? angewandt. Für einen umfassenden Überblick über sämtliche Aspekte der Sedimentologie und Stratigraphie werden außerdem verschiedene Ansätze zur Nutzung stratigraphischer Prinzipien bei der Datierung und Korrelierung von Schichten betrachtet. Die 3. Auflage wurde gründlich überarbeitet und aktualisiert. Dabei wurde die Kapitelgliederung so geändert, dass nun separate Abschnitte zur Geomorphologie und zur Stratigraphie für jede Sedimentumgebung vorhanden sind. Außerdem enthält die neue Ausgabe zusätzliche farbige Abbildungen. Die wesentlichen Konzepte, die in Sedimentology and Stratigraphy eingeführt werden, umfassen u.a.: * Die Bedeutung von Veränderungen in der Pflanzen- und Tierwelt im Zeitverlauf und die Auswirkungen auf die Charakteristik des Sedimentumfelds im Meer und an Land * Die Unterscheidung zwischen modernen Umgebungen und dem, was in den Sedimentabfolgen erhalten geblieben ist, mit einer Betrachtung glazialerosionaler und von Ablagerungen geprägter Landformen * Heutige Wüstenumgebungen und äolische Ablagerungen in der stratigraphischen Abfolge * Fluviale Prozesse mit Mustern von Neben- und Verteilerkanälen unterschiedlicher Größenordnung und in verschiedenen Umgebungen Das Werk Sedimentology and Stratigraphy wurde von einem kenntnisreichen Autor mit umfangreicher Erfahrung auf dem Fachgebiet verfasst. Es ist ein gut verständliches Lehrwerk für Studierende der Geologie und verwandter Fachgebiete, die sich Kenntnisse über die Bildung, Eigenschaften und Bedeutung von Sedimentgesteinen aneignen möchten.
Authoritative, accessible, and updated introduction to sedimentary rocks for undergraduate students Sedimentary Petrology provides readers with a concise account of sedimentary rock composition, mineralogy, texture, structure, diagenesis, and depositional environments. The new edition of this classic text incorporates the many technological and analytical advances of the last decade, revealing exciting details of processes such as microbial precipitation, how microporosity is created within mudrocks, and the chemical composition of foraminifera deposits, which can be a key indicator for changing seawater temperature. This fourth edition offers a comprehensive update and expansion of the previous editions with a new set of illustrations, new references, and further reading. The new co-author Stuart Jones has brought his considerable expertise in clastic sedimentology to the rewritten chapters on sandstones and mudrocks. The addition of color images throughout the text will aid students immensely in their studies and petrographic fieldwork. Sample topics covered in Sedimentary Petrology include: Advances in modeling and programming to simulate depositional-diagenetic conditions and controls which support field-lab descriptions and interpretations Ocean acidification and the demise of coral reefs, and the role of the oceans in carbon capture and storage Sedimentary ironstones and iron-formations, sedimentary phosphate deposits, coal, oil shale and petroleum, and cherts and siliceous sediments Limestones, evaporites, volcaniclastic sediments, sandstones, conglomerates, breccias, and the effects of microplastics on marine organisms Aimed at undergraduates in geology and earth science, Sedimentary Petrology is an excellent teaching and learning resource for introductory courses in sedimentary rocks.
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.
