Climatic control of Mississippi River flood hazard amplified by river engineering
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Water monitoring at four locations on the Choptank River and four locations on the Pocomoke River in Maryland, U.S.A., was conducted from 2021 through 2023. Funding and scientific rationale were provided by the National Science Foundation grant 2049073 (“Resolving Sediment Connectivity between Rivers and Estuaries by Tracking Particles with their Microbial Genetic Signature”). The monitoring locations were chosen to measure estuary dynamics from the tidal freshwater zone through the mesohaline estuary. Parameters measured included water temperature, water level, water conductivity (reported as specific conductivity), water turbidity, and water velocity.more » « less
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River capture events may create short‐term pulses of incision in orogenic settings, complicating the interpretation of tectonic and climatic influences on exhumation patterns. The Sutlej River in northwestern India offers a compelling case study, as recent exhumation has been linked primarily to tectonic and climatic factors, whereas the capture of the Zhada Basin has been identified at <1 Ma. This region also features active faults and a river anticline formed by rapid river incision. The integration of new (U‐Th)/He data, inverse modeling and a geomorphic analysis has revealed two recent episodes of rapid exhumation along the river anticline: (a) a 0.8–0.3 Ma pulse coinciding with the capture of the Zhada Basin, which is associated with a 2‐ to 3‐fold increase in exhumation rates in the river anticline region, and (b) a 2–1 Ma pulse linked to the potential capture of the Pare Chu River, another major tributary of the Sutlej River. Our findings suggest that these Pleistocene river capture events both led to increased exhumation downstream along the river anticline, a region susceptible to rapid exhumation via ongoing deformation and a warm weak crust. Thus, this study emphasizes how erosional perturbations, triggered by changes in drainage systems, can significantly impact topography, local exhumation patterns, and deformation dynamics during <1 Myr time periods.more » « less
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