A portion of run-on can infiltrate once it reaches the area of interest.
Run-on is common in arid and semi-arid areas with patchy vegetation cover and short but intense thunderstorms.
In these environments, surface runoff is usually generated by a failure of rainfall to infiltrate into the ground quickly enough (this runoff is termed infiltration excess overland flow).
Run-on is an important process in the hydrological and ecohydrological behaviour of semi-arid ecosystems.
Tiger bush is an example of a vegetation community that develops a patterned structure in response to, in part, the generation of runoff and run-on.