Earth and Environmental Science Researchers Develop New Riverbed Erosion Modeling Technique

In a study published in Nature Communications, Associate Professor of Earth and Environmental Science Douglas Jerolmack reveals his new model for predicting riverbed erosion. Theoretical models, which use principles of physics to predict patterns of sediment transport in rivers, have rarely matched observations from nature. Jerolmack's study, which used his custom laboratory apparatus, more closely aligns with what is seen in nature.

The study’s new model of sediment transport—involving not only the motion of surface grains pushed by flowing water but also the creep beneath the surface resulting from interactions among particles—may substantially improve geologists’ abilities to predict erosion rates and landscape evolution over time, and could also help inform future civil engineering projects. Douglas Durian, Professor of Physics and Astronomy, and Morgane Houssais and Carlos Ortiz, both Earth and Environmental Science postdoctoral researchers, also worked on the study.

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