Rivers

The Three Gorges Dam dramatically reduced the amount of sediment transported by the Yangtze River in China after its completion in 2003. The top image shows the dam site during construction in 1999, when sediment colors the free-flowing river brown. The bottom image shows the completed dam in 2010. Dark blue water flows through the dam without sediment, which is trapped upstream in the reservoir, one of an estimated 50,000 in the river basin. Credit: NASA Landsat/U.S. Geological Survey. Figure compiled by Evan…

The LSU report, though, became best known for its proposed solution, which focused on counteracting levees. The authors suggested that some water and mud be diverted out of the Mississippi, back into the marshland. Let the river resume the work it had been doing for thousands of years, before it was restrained, in other words. It’s an idea that has captivated engineers and ecologists ever since.To test the concept, scientists began to cut through the natural banks near the river’s mouth. (Because the land near the mouth…

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Extreme precipitation from hurricanes and atmospheric rivers can lead to increased flooding in the world's coastal zones, where more than 630 million people reside. Tidal marshes act as important buffers in these areas, absorbing the initial impact of storm surges and strong winds. In addition, tidal marsh ecosystems rely on storm events to deposit sediments that help with marsh accretion.…

Credit: CC0 Public Domain Water quality is still "unacceptably poor" in many British rivers, research involving academics at York has shown. The study, published in Science of The…

By Wiley July 8, 2022According to the scientists, pharmaceutical contamination endangers a huge portion of the world’s rivers.How pharmaceutical ingredients are affecting the world’s riversPharmaceutical chemicals in prescription and over-the-counter medications are released into the environment during their manufacturing, usage, and disposal, particularly in surface waters. According to research findings recently published in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, pharmaceutical pollution is a worldwide issue that is…

Ben Aaronovitch’s bestselling fantasy series, Rivers of London, is to be adapted for television.A new partnership will bring together all nine of the novels, plus the accompanying short stories, novellas and graphic novels, for the screen.Rivers of London is part urban fantasy, part police procedural, centring on detective constable Peter Grant. A newly graduated police officer from London, he is recruited in the first book by wizard and inspector Thomas Nightingale to the Folly, a police unit working on supernatural…

Amazon was one of 400 companies that signed on to support LGBTQ legislation rights in the U.S.Photo: Jeff Chiu (AP)After flaunting rainbow-colored products throughout the month of June as part of its ‘Pride Out Loud’ campaign, Amazon is now restricting items and search results related to LGBTQ people on its website in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The company reportedly received pressure from the government to remove products and keywords from its website, according to documents viewed by The New York Times.Amazon…

The Three Gorges Dam dramatically reduced the amount of sediment transported by the Yangtze River in China after its completion in 2003. The top image shows the dam site during construction in 1999, when sediment colors the free-flowing river brown. The bottom image shows the completed dam in 2010. Dark blue water flows through the dam without sediment, which is trapped upstream in the reservoir, one of an estimated 50,000 in the river basin. Credit:…

Meanwhile invasive Russian olive and tamarisk trees have moved in beneath the canopy, all fire-prone species. Fires in the bosque were once virtually nonexistent; now they routinely break out. In 2017, the Tiffany fire in southern New Mexico roared across the parched landscape, leaving more than 9,000 acres of riparian cottonwood forest a charred ruin.Because of levees built to contain its flow, the Rio Grande now courses mostly through a narrow channel, rather than expanding broadly across the landscape, which…

High-resolution river water δ7Li, 87Sr/86Sr, and hydrometeorological data from the NE Tibetan Plateau. Weekly variations of δ7Li and 87Sr/86Sr in the carbonate-dominated BH (a) and silicate-dominated SL (b) catchments (Supplementary Fig. 2) along with daily Qw and precipitation, showing inverse trends between δ7Li and Qw in each river. When plotting up weekly data from the two rivers together (c), there is still an overall negative relationship,…