Hydraulic Processes on Alluvial Fans

Book excerpt: Alluvial fans are among the most prominent landscape features in the American Southwest and throughout the semi-arid and arid regions of the world. The importance of developing a qualitative and quantitative understanding of the hydraulic processes which formed, and which continue to modify, these features derives from their rapid and significant development over the past four decades. As unplanned urban sprawl has moved from valley floors onto alluvial fans, the serious damage incurred from infrequent flow events has dramatically increased.This book presents a concise, coherent discussion of our current and rapidly expanding knowledge of hydraulic processes on alluvial fans. It addresses the subject from a multidisciplinary viewpoint, acquainting the geologist with engineering principles, and the civil engineer and planner with geological principles pertinent to the analysis of hydraulic processes on alluvial fans. The book thus provides much of interest to geologists, civil engineers and planners involved in floodplain management and drainage design in arid and semi-arid regions.