Determining Rates and Patterns of Bedrock Incision by Large Rivers

University Of Vermont & State Agricultural College, Burlington VT

Investigators

Abstract

Determining Rates and Patterns of Bedrock Incision by Large Rivers The Potomac and Susquehanna are major rivers draining a large portion of eastern North America. On the banks of both rivers, above today's channels, are series of terraces, flat surfaces that were once the bed of the river. As both rivers cur away rock and eroded their channels, these terraces were left high and dry up to 100 feet above the modern river. The age of these terraces is unknown nor do we know if the terraces might be the result of changing past climate. Our research will use new techniques in chemical and high-energy particle analysis to provide fundamental answers regarding the age and origin of these terraces. Such information is important for our basic understanding of how large rivers work, particularly how they cut into hard rock. But such information is also very important for building a greater public understanding of how prominent landscape features, such as falls, cataracts, and river terraces form, Much of our work will be done in Parks, in particular, The National Park at Great Falls on the Potomac. We will ensure that our results are included in informal science interpretive materials so that the Park's many visitors know more about the geologic processes that formed the landscape they came to view.