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Rivers and alluvial fans

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Sedimentology

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Science ((EESS))

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Introduction

A river is a natural stream of water that under the influence of gravity flows regularly or intermittently in a channel or channels toward a receiving basin, commonly an ocean or lake. Rivers are open systems in which energy and matter are exchanged with the external environment (Knighton, 1998). They are supplied with water almost entirely from precipitation (meteoric water) routed to the channel via overland flow, groundwater, swamps, lakes, snowfields, and glaciers, and they acquire most of their sediment load by dissecting uplands or by reworking unconsolidated debris from previous erosional events. Sediment deposited by rivers in subaerial settings is called alluvium. Consequently, rivers are divisible into bedrock reaches with rigid boundaries, and alluvial reachesthat have a mobile boundary of relatively unconsolidated material, often with vegetation assisting channel stabilization. Rivers drain catchments (drainage basins or watersheds), are organized into...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Geosciences, University of Wollongong, New South Wales, 2522, Australia

    Gerald C. Nanson

  2. Department of Earth Sciences, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 3J5, Canada

    Martin R. Gibling

Authors
  1. Gerald C. Nanson
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  2. Martin R. Gibling
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© 1978 Dowden, Hutchinson & Ross, Inc.

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Nanson, G.C., Gibling, M.R. (1978). Rivers and alluvial fans. In: Sedimentology. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg . https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-31079-7_173

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-31079-7_173

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-87933-152-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-31079-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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