Shifting is in a river’s nature. But when a river breaks free of its channel and carves a new path across the landscape, devastating floods may descend upon communities with little to no warning.
For decades, researchers have struggled to explain exactly how river channels become primed for such sudden diversions, or avulsions. A study published September 18 in Nature may have finally quelled the debate, showing how two factors work together to stage the rerouting of a river. Building on their findings, the researchers also developed a promising algorithm that can predict the new path of a river that has avulsed.
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