Aspects of this topic are discussed in the following places at Britannica.
...lines during fan development. Such longitudinal shifting is facilitated by entrenching and/or backfilling the channel that links the source area to the fan. Incision at the fan apex produces a fan-head trench, which has a lower gradient than the fan surface. The trench is thus deepest at the apex and becomes shallower as it progresses down the fan; it eventually becomes part of the normal...
We welcome your comments. Any revisions or updates suggested for this article will be reviewed by our editorial staff. Contact us here.
Regular users of Britannica may notice that this comments feature is less robust than in the past. This is only temporary, while we make the transition to a dramatically new and richer site. The functionality of the system will be restored soon.