Fluvial attrition is generally understood to refer to any process of mechanical grain wear leading to grain size reduction in the course of sediment transport through rivers. Fluvial abrasion is generally accepted as an equivalent term, though it might also be interpreted to mean modification of the stream bed or banks. Mikos (1993) has presented a modern treatise on the subject of fluvial attrition of clastic grains.
“Abrasion” in the present context specifically implies surface wear caused by the relative motion of two surfaces in frictional contact, especially when one surface is harder than the other (“grinding”, when one of the grains is at rest, is sometimes distinguished). Additional processes that have been invoked as contributing to fluvial “abrasion” include impact or percussive effects (e.g., chipping, splitting and sandblasting), and crushing, when the impact of a larger rock causes a small grain to disintegrate. Weathering and solution have also been invoked, but this...
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© 1978 Dowden, Hutchinson & Ross, Inc.
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Church, M. (1978). Attrition (abrasion), fluvial. In: Sedimentology. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg . https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-31079-7_11
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