Watersheds,rivers, and Floodplains

The course develops integrative hydrologic, physical, geomorphic, and biogeochemical analyses in modern watersheds, with a focus on water, sediment, and biogeochemical fluxes. Topics of high societal relevance are included, e.g., stressors on watersheds such as aridification, permafrost degradation in northern regions, wildfires, and commercial logging. By these means, the course frames rivers and floodplains as 'arteries of the continents', and explains how fluvial dynamics at various spatial and temporal scales regulate the water, rock, and biogeochemical cycles over a range of climatic, physiographic, and anthropic contexts. (lec/cst 3) cr 3.