Introduction

Abstract

Fluvial deposits represent the preserved record of one of the major nonmarine environments. They accumulate in large and small mountain-girt valleys, in the broad valleys of trunk rivers, in the wedges of alluvial fans flanking areas of uplift, in the outwash plains fronting melting glaciers, and in coastal plains. The composition of fluvial detritus depends on the geology of the source areas from which the sediment was derived, and the climatic influences to which the detritus was subjected before final burial. The nature of the fluvial assemblage — its lithofacies composition, vertical stratigraphic record and architecture — reflects an interplay of many processes, from the wandering of individual channels across a floodplain, to the long-term effects of uplift and subsidence. Fluvial deposits are a sensitive indicator of tectonic processes, and also carry subtle signatures of the climate at the time of deposition. They are the hosts for many petroleum and mineral deposits. This book is about all these subjects.