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Alluvial fans form major depositional zones within many dry-region mountain fluvial systems. Their geomorphic and sedimentary characteristics respond to environmental conditions, which broadly control (a) location and context, (b) water and sediment supply from the catchment to the fan, and (c) processes on the fans themselves, including the locations and relative importance of erosion and deposition, and style of depositional processes.

There are three groups of interacting factors which influence how these three aspects behave, including (i) tectonic and other geological, gross geomorphic and context factors, (ii) climatic factors, influencing runoff and sediment generation, and (iii) base-level factors, which may be ultimately tectonically, climatically or locally controlled.

This paper examines how alluvial fans responded to Quaternary climatic changes, using examples from and and semi-arid regions in southern Spain, the American West and UAE/Oman. Fan response to climatic change is conditioned by interactions with tectonic/context and base-level related factors.

Studies of the response of fan systems to Quaternary climatic changes may be indicative of vulnerability to contemporary and future climatic change.