I have made an unpleasant discovery that I seemed to use these terms incorrectly. 'Alluvial' seems to mean "out of the river channel", flood-plain' etc. While all these cross-bedded coarce-grained things that are formed in the river channel are fluvial and not alluvial. I simply cannot believe, because I see that east european geologists widely use 'alluvial' for this things, especially 'alluvial deposits', alluvial facies, while fluvial are mostly systems and processes. For example, "channel alluvium", in contrast to "flood plain alluvium". What is the correct usage? and, if 'the channel alluvium' is incorrect, may there exist an unifying term? Possible, 'fluviatile' may be used both for deposits of the river channel and deposits of the river flood plain?
Alluvial and Fluvial
Alluvial deposit or Alluvium is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, or in an alluvial fan or beach. Alluvial focuses on the deposited matter. On the other hand, Fluvial comes from the Latin word fluvialis, or fluvius 'river' or to flow. Fluvial focuses on the action of the river or flow.
Thank you! so you mean if I write "channel alluvial sand" - it will be ok?
Lilia
Hi
I think that the term of 'alluvial' is relative to the detrital deposit's source and to the grain size arrangement of the deposited material even if it seems the same thing to fluvial. While, the term 'fluvial' indicates the stata disposition that includes the sedimentary structure and indicates the river animation in particular the sedimentary figure of channels or the intersected sandy strata. Thanks.
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