Predicting flood paths

A team of geologists and physicists are modeling flooding in the laboratory to help predict the size and the route of floods from overflowing rivers.

The team was prompted to study the problem in the aftermath of the August 18, 2008 flood of the Kosi River in northern India. This flood displaced more than a million people. The scientists noticed that after overflowing its banks, the flood waters followed older, abandoned channels.

By constructing a scale model of a river-delta system in the lab, the researchers were able to determine that the initial formation of a river channel is random, but once channels formed, flooding was restricted to the previously formed channels rather than cutting new ones.

The scientists compared river flooding to earthquakes: just as earthquakes occur along pre-existing faults, flooding occurs along pre-established channels.

From March 19, 2010 post at http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Catastrophic_Flooding_May_Be_More_Predictable_999.html

Based on current issue of Geophysical Research Letters, Reitz, Meredith, et al.

Photo credit: http://www.geo.uu.nl/fg/palaeogeography/researchprogram