Definition
Sheetflood deposits formed by subsidiary river channels (crevasse channels) as a result of point failures of a levee (Kargel et al. 1994).
Synonyms
Description
Fan- or lobe-shaped mounds of sediment. Their distal margins can either thin gradually or end abruptly with a steep slope (Bridge and Demicco 2012, p. 432).
Subtypes
Deltaic crevasse splay (subdelta), formed along distributary channels (e.g., Roberts 1986, p. 438).
Formation
Crevasse splays form following flooding events (Pondrelli et al. 2008), “where the levee of a river has been breached and flow is fed directly onto the floodplain through a new distributary channel (crevasse channel)” (North and Davidson 2012), infilling the interdistributary areas (floodplain) with coarser sediments, initially unconfined, later concentrating into one or more channels. “The splay will initially be symmetrical about a perpendicular to the main channel, but, as it enlarges, its morphology and orientation adjust to...
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Bridge JS, Demicco R (2012) Rivers, alluvial plains and fans. Earth surface processes, landforms and sediment deposits. Cambridge University Press, New York, In, pp 365–461
Kargel JS, Kirk RL, Fegly B Jr, Treiman AH (1994) Carbonate-sulfate volcanism on Venus? Icarus 112:219–252
North CP, Davidson SK (2012) Unconfined alluvial flow processes: recognition and interpretation of their deposits, and the significance for palaeogeographic reconstruction. Earth Sci Rev 111:199–223
Pondrelli M, Pio Rossi A, Marinangeli L, Hauber E, Gwinner K, Baliva A, Di Lorenzo S (2008) Evolution and depositional environments of the Eberswalde fan delta, Mars. Icarus 197:429–451
Roberts HH (1986) Selected depositional environments of the Mississippi River deltaic plain. In: Neathery TL (ed) Southeastern section of the Geological Society of America, Centenniel Field Guide 6, Geological Society of America, Boulder, CO. pp 435–446
Stouthamer E (2001) Sedimentary products of avulsions in the Holocene Rhine–Meuse Delta, The Netherlands. Sediment Geol 145(1–2):73–92
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© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media New York
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Hargitai, H. (2015). Crevasse Splay. In: Hargitai, H., Kereszturi, Á. (eds) Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3134-3_82
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3134-3_82
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