Abstract
Hundreds of alluvial fans are developed and still under development in the central and eastern parts of Iraq. The fans are of different sizes, types, shapes and stages, laid down by rivers, permanent streams and valleys. The composition of the sediments of the fans differs widely depending on the source of the sediments, the depositional area, size and type of the fan. Some of the alluvial fans have typical fan forms; others are hardly recognized, especially in the field; in nature; and more specifically when the fan areas are occupied as agricultural fields and/ or are very large with very gentle gradient that hinder their occurrences. Majority of the studied alluvial fans in the studied area are not presented on geological maps. This is attributed to the fact that they are not presented on the base geological maps because they are unrecognizable in the field, mainly because they have lost their fan shapes. Others; however, are presented even on the geological map of Iraq at scale of 1:1000000. In this study, the main alluvial fans are presented and described with the reason and form of their deposition. Accordingly, different types of alluvial fans are presented and described including their coverage areas, types, number of stages, shape and constituents. This is performed through interpretation of different types of satellite images, documented field data and the experience of the authors with their long careers and expertize in the field.
Keywords: Alluvial fans, Morphology, Tectonics, Perennial streams, Iraq
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