A fan-shaped deposit of sediment laid down where a stream emerges from a confined mountain valley onto a flatter plain and abruptly loses the gradient and confinement that carried its sediment load. Repeated flood events build the fan outward over time, and alluvial fans are especially common at the base of mountain fronts in arid and semi-arid regions.
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Source Alluvial fan (Wikipedia)
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Alluvial fan (Wikipedia)
Shaped By: Alluvial Fan Formation, Lead paragraphQuote, Shaped By: Alluvial Fan Formation, Lead paragraph
Alluvial fans typically form where a flow of sediment or rocks emerge from a confined channel and are suddenly free to spread out in many directions.
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