Which process facilitates sediment sorting across an alluvial fan landscape after an intense rainfall event?

💡 Explanation

When stream power decreases across the alluvial fan, diffusion occurs because water disperses across an increasingly broad area, depositing coarser sediments upstream and finer sediments downstream due to settling velocities. Therefore decreasing stream power causes sediment sorting, rather than delta formation, avulsion, or deflation, which entail specific hydraulic or climatic changes.

• Which process limits alluvial terrance downcutting after deposition on a wide fluvial alluvial fan?
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