Let the River Run :: essays research papers

Things occur in nature, that we as humans some dates prevent from occurring naturally.For example - a dam on a river. Once roam into use on a river, a dam simply stops or slowsdown the natural flow of the water. Sometimes this is for the better, however - sometimes,it is for the worse. This is the case in the Grand Canyon. Some rivers go through natural,periods of flooding and receding, at certain times of the year, or in occurrence with othergeographical events. For the first time in thirty eld, in March 1996, flood waters ragesthrough the Grand Canyon. However, this was not the result of a natural flood. TheColorado River would experience this equivalent type of man made flood, naturally. Thesefloods would occur every year during winter and spring rains. This water has beenreleased from an upstream dam. The dam was put into action in 1963. Since then, years ofenvironmental damage have been adding up. Dams have been on the river for nearly acentury - however, none were upstream of the Grand Canyon until this one was built in1963. Rivers have a number of processes involved in their everyday activities that allowthemselves and the land around them to flourish. When the flow of a river is disrupted, so be these processes. Rivers carry sediments. along with carrying these sediments, theyalso deposit them, usually onto surrounding land areas. This deposition occurs when theflow of the water slows down. The amount of sediment a river is carrying generally givescolor to its appearance. to begin with this dam was built, the Colorado River possessed acloudy, rust color. Now, when the water is stopped at this dam, over 90 percent of itssediment is dropped. As a result - this gives the river a crystal clear appearance. Anotherresult of the lack of sediment, is the beach erosion that is occurring. Some beaches haveeroded to over half of their master copy size. This erosion is happening because the beachesdepended on the annual floods to bring them a continuous suppl y of fresh, fine sand. Thedam is trapping a majority of the sand. There are small tributary rivers that flowuninhibited into the Colorado River below the dam, they bring some sediment - but notenough. As well as these beaches depending on the floods - the rapids in the river, havethis same type of dependence. Here, the floods would clear any debris from between theboulders, an area that is now choked.