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From this high promontory, the landforms of the Sonoran Des ert take on awesome proportions. The mesas, buttes, cinder cones, basalt flows, mountains, and valleys, all carved and modi fied by water in this dry place, must be measured in kilometers and millions of years. Even the colors are dazzling. The volcanic rocks, altered by ancient hydrothermal activity, glow a warm orange and yellow in the October sun. The bright, clear light illuminates each tiny crevice etched by weathering and erosion in the cliffs. Several hundred meters below and about a kilo meter away the river rolls, a brown silt-laden ribbon on the floor of the gorge. The water rustles so quietly that I can hear it only when the wind dies. In the distance, sharp mountain peaks rake the bottom of the ocean of air where streamers of clouds stretch over the horizon to the ocean of water. The field is a fitting place to write the preface for a book on geomorphology because of the importance of the field experi ence in the development of the science. Dramatic landforms and processes, especially in drylands, have excited the imagination and intellect of artists, writers, and scientists. Each observer has explored a different route to knowing and understanding this thin envelope that is the contact between sky and earth. De scriptions of these striking landscapes have appealed to cataclys mic forces, operation of machine-like processes, and even ran dom occurrences governed by happenstance.
Examines the processes operating in the headwaters and main channels of ephemeral rivers in semi-arid environments and includes coverage of current fieldwork investigations, modeling approaches, and management issues. focuses on dryland channel networks and processes presents a historical framework for research discusses examples of current studies and evaluates contemporary modelling approaches Emphasis is on the Mediterranean region, with comparisons to other dryland regimes eg California, Australia, Chile.
Covers river processes and forms in drylands: the semiarid, arid and extremely arid portions of the Earth's surface. Describes the understanding of dryland rivers, using a theoretical framework with examples.
This site is intended to stimulate research by providing an information focus and provoking networking between those working on dryland rivers and the sediments they leave behind. It will cover: processes and products hydrology, dynamics, architecture of rivers and their floodplains with adjacent and interacting processes (aeolian, lacustrine) modern and ancient integration of geomorphology and sedimentology.
"In Wide Rivers Crossed, Ellen Wohl tells the stories of two rivers—the South Platte on the western plains and the Illinois on the eastern—to represent the environmental history and historical transformation of major rivers across the American prairie. Wohl begins with the rivers’ natural histories, including their geologic history, physical characteristics, ecological communities, and earliest human impacts, and follows a downstream and historical progression from the use of the rivers’ resources by European immigrants through increasing population density of the twentieth century to the present day. The environmental changes in the South Platte and the Illinois reflect the relentless efforts by humans to control the distribution of water: to enhance surface water in the arid western prairie and to limit the spread of floods and drain the wetlands along the rivers in the water-abundant east. In addition, during the past two centuries crops replaced native vegetation; excess snowmelt and rainfall carried fertilizers and pesticides into streams; and levees, dams, and drainage altered distribution. These changes cascaded through networks, starting in small headwater tributaries, and reduced the ability of rivers to supply the clean water, fertile soil, and natural habitats they had provided for centuries. Understanding how these rivers, and rivers in general, function and how these functions have been altered over time will allow us to find innovative approaches to restoring river ecosystems. Wide Rivers Crossed looks at these historical changes and discusses opportunities for much needed protection and restoration for the future."