BLACKSBURG, Va., Aug. 10 -- Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University issued the following news release:
After a heavy rain, rivers often turn brown with sediment, sand, silt, and soil washed from the landscape that play a vital role in shaping rivers.
But after modeling nearly 40 years of sediment movement from 175 rivers across the United States, Admin Husic, associate professor in civil and environmental engineering, and Nishchal Sigdel M.S. '26 have discovered that many rivers are no longer delivering sediment gradually throughout the year.
Instead, according to research published in Nature Communications Earth and Environment, they're dumping much of it during a handful of increasingly intense storms. It's a shift that cou...