by Rich Collins | Apr 30, 2013 | Watershed Word of the Week
Our final WWotW, as part of our erosion identification series, is “Gully”. A gully is a feature characterized by the erosion of land by water cutting sharp edges into soil, typically on a hillside. The photo above illustrates the severity in which gullies...
by Rich Collins | Apr 23, 2013 | Watershed Word of the Week
Continuing our WWotW erosion identification, we take a look at “Sheet Erosion”. Sheet erosion is the detachment of particles, usually by raindrop impact, and their removal downslope by water flowing overland in a sheet as opposed to defined channels like...
by Rich Collins | Apr 16, 2013 | Watershed Word of the Week
As spring moves forward steadily and summer approaches, I think it is important to dedicate the next few “WWotW” to erosion features. This week we will look at rills. Rills often form as the initial sign of erosion. By definition, a rill is a narrow and...
by Rich Collins | Apr 9, 2013 | Watershed Word of the Week
An Oxbow Lake encompasses the best of both worlds; rivers and lakes! Oxbow lakes are U-shaped bodies of water that are formed when a meander of a river is cut off and isolates the meander as a lake. Young rivers generally start off fairly straight. As time goes on,...
by Rich Collins | Apr 3, 2013 | Watershed Word of the Week
In order to properly define an “alluvial fan”, we must first define “alluvium”. Alluvium refers to clay, silt, sand, and/or gravel particles that are deposited by running water. Debris from flooding is also considered alluvium after it has...
by Rich Collins | Mar 27, 2013 | Watershed Word of the Week
A “snowpack” is formed as layers of snow accumulate in regions of high altitude or during the course of the winter season. Upper Colorado River Basin snowpack. Snowpacks can be used to date events and evaluate climate. Around the world, snowpacks are an...
