Humid Fans of the Appalachian Mountains
Kochel RC. 1990. Humid Fans of the Appalachian Mountains. Pages 109-129. In Kochel RC. Alluvial Fans: A Field Approach. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Alluvial fans are abundant throughout the Appalachian Mountains of the eastern United States. Most of these humid fans are small, irregularly-shaped landforms formed dominantly by debris-flow processes which occur in first or second order basins. Larger, more regular fans formed dominantly by fluvial processes also occur in the Appalachians and are best exemplified by fans along the perimeter of the Shenandoah Valley in west-central Virginia. These two fan types commonly coexist in the same region. Fan morphology, sedimentology, and dominant depositional processes are controlled by: (1) location in the drainage network; (2) recovery rates on hillslopes; (3) source basin lithology; (4) depositional frequency; and (5) post-depositional modifications. Activity on most of these fans occurs during the incursion of tropical moisture into the region, producing locally intense rainfall. Although depositional events at a site are infrequent (typically on the order of a few thousand years) fans are activated every few years in various parts of the Appalachians.
- Type
- Book Chapter
- Authors
- Kochel, R
- Units
- GRSM
- Keywords
- Alluvial Fans, Anakeesta Ridge, Climate, debris-flows, GRSM-01949, hillslopes, Hurricane, Landslides, Lithology, Morphology, Sedimentology, Shenandoah Valley, tropical moisture
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Geomorphology | Hillslope Features and Processes