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Alluvial fans have also been found on Mars and Titan, showing that fluvial processes have occurred on other worlds. Some of the largest alluvial fans are found along the Himalaya mountain front on the Indo-Gangetic plain. A shift of the feeder channel (a nodal avulsion) can lead to catastrophic flooding, as occurred on the Kosi River fan in 2008.
An alluvial fan could have been deposited and formed outside of a mountain range, however, thrusting of the mountain belt could cause the alluvial fan to become broken up by the new mountain forming. Thus, the alluvial fan would be split with the fan on either side of the new mountain range development and could change the steepness of the fan. [1]
In this arid environment, alluvial fans form at the mouth of these streams. Very large alluvial fans merged to form continuous alluvial slopes called bajadas along the Panamint Range. [33] The faster uplift along the Black Mountains formed much smaller alluvial fans because older fans are buried under playa sediments before they can grow too large.
The valley and alluvial fan provide evidence for geologically recent (Amazonian-aged) fluvial activity [2] [3] and sustained water flow [4] on Mars. Recent high-resolution orbital images of Peace Vallis and its watershed also suggest that at least one glacial episode affected Gale crater. [ 5 ]
Fans inside and around the outsides of the crater are closely similar to Earth's alluvial fans. As on Earth, the largest rocks are near the mouths of the fans. Because the channels start at ridge tops, it is believed they were formed by heavy downpours.
An alluvial fan and a playa fill the bottom of the crater, [2] which is the lowest point in this volcanic field, [4] while its margins are surrounded by tephra beds including ash, lapilli, scoria and tuff blocks; it appears that most of these are older rocks that were torn out of the ground and ejected during the formation of Lunar Crater. [39]
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Alluvial or sedimentary fans are shallow cone-shaped reliefs at the base of the continental slope that merge together, forming the continental rise. [2] Erosional submarine canyons slope downward and lead to alluvial fan valleys with increasing depth. [2] It is in this zone that sediment is deposited, forming the continental rise.