Ellen Wohl
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300103328
- eISBN:
- 9780300127461
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300103328.001.0001
- Subject:
- Environmental Science, Environmental Studies
This book focuses on how rivers function, how those functions have changed through time, and the role of humans in those changes. A river continually responds to changes in its environment and is ...
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This book focuses on how rivers function, how those functions have changed through time, and the role of humans in those changes. A river continually responds to changes in its environment and is never static. The type of river response depends on the magnitude and persistence of changes in water and sediment entering the river. The movements of water and sediment within a sand-bed channel adjust readily over a period of minutes to hours. The book discusses rivers of the Northeast and East-Central region of the United States, which drain east to the Atlantic Ocean. The single largest drainage basin in this region is the St. Lawrence, which delivers an average of 65,000 billion gallons of water to the ocean each year. The book examines the river systems in America, explains how the earliest human inhabitants reached America and modified the physical and biological environments of the rivers, and reveals that sedentary agricultural communities first appeared in the archeological record of North America more than 2,000 years ago. As with agricultural peoples elsewhere in the world, these first farmers affected rivers more than their hunter-gatherer predecessors. The book discusses the impact of industrialization on the health of rivers in United States, also focusing on the restoration and rehabilitation of rivers.Less
This book focuses on how rivers function, how those functions have changed through time, and the role of humans in those changes. A river continually responds to changes in its environment and is never static. The type of river response depends on the magnitude and persistence of changes in water and sediment entering the river. The movements of water and sediment within a sand-bed channel adjust readily over a period of minutes to hours. The book discusses rivers of the Northeast and East-Central region of the United States, which drain east to the Atlantic Ocean. The single largest drainage basin in this region is the St. Lawrence, which delivers an average of 65,000 billion gallons of water to the ocean each year. The book examines the river systems in America, explains how the earliest human inhabitants reached America and modified the physical and biological environments of the rivers, and reveals that sedentary agricultural communities first appeared in the archeological record of North America more than 2,000 years ago. As with agricultural peoples elsewhere in the world, these first farmers affected rivers more than their hunter-gatherer predecessors. The book discusses the impact of industrialization on the health of rivers in United States, also focusing on the restoration and rehabilitation of rivers.
Ellen E. Wohl
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300103328
- eISBN:
- 9780300127461
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300103328.003.0007
- Subject:
- Environmental Science, Environmental Studies
This chapter discusses the endangered rivers of the United States, and the actions required to save them. It reveals that rivers of the Lower Mississippi region were first heavily impacted by ...
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This chapter discusses the endangered rivers of the United States, and the actions required to save them. It reveals that rivers of the Lower Mississippi region were first heavily impacted by dramatically increased sediment yields from lands being cleared of natural vegetation for growing crops. River response to sedimentation prompted humans to undertake widespread channelization, construction of levees, clearing of logjams and naturally occurring wood, and destruction of riverside and floodplain habitats. Rivers of the Central region have been most altered by flow regulation and changes in sediment supply associated with dams, diversions, and channelization, and by contamination from agricultural runoff. The chapter discusses how the big rivers of the Southwestern Canyon region were most heavily affected by the construction of numerous large dams and the removal of water for off-stream agricultural and municipal uses during the twentieth century.Less
This chapter discusses the endangered rivers of the United States, and the actions required to save them. It reveals that rivers of the Lower Mississippi region were first heavily impacted by dramatically increased sediment yields from lands being cleared of natural vegetation for growing crops. River response to sedimentation prompted humans to undertake widespread channelization, construction of levees, clearing of logjams and naturally occurring wood, and destruction of riverside and floodplain habitats. Rivers of the Central region have been most altered by flow regulation and changes in sediment supply associated with dams, diversions, and channelization, and by contamination from agricultural runoff. The chapter discusses how the big rivers of the Southwestern Canyon region were most heavily affected by the construction of numerous large dams and the removal of water for off-stream agricultural and municipal uses during the twentieth century.
Daniel B. Botkin
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195168297
- eISBN:
- 9780199790050
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Discontinued
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195168297.003.0002
- Subject:
- Biology, Biodiversity / Conservation Biology
This chapter describes the challenges posed by the Missouri River as Lewis and Clark made their way west. Topics covered include the river's meandering, the treachery of the river, the social ...
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This chapter describes the challenges posed by the Missouri River as Lewis and Clark made their way west. Topics covered include the river's meandering, the treachery of the river, the social consequences of the variability and fickleness of the Missouri, efforts to tame rivers using machine-age technology, and the impact of the straightening and channelization of the Missouri on natural ecological systems of the river valley.Less
This chapter describes the challenges posed by the Missouri River as Lewis and Clark made their way west. Topics covered include the river's meandering, the treachery of the river, the social consequences of the variability and fickleness of the Missouri, efforts to tame rivers using machine-age technology, and the impact of the straightening and channelization of the Missouri on natural ecological systems of the river valley.
