earthstory:
Meeting of the rivers
Upstream from the canyon I’ve written about for the last month, the Colorado River reaches nearly its fullest extent in Utah after meeting with the Green River.
During the summer months, the rivers pick up varieties of sediment as they flood, causing more vivid colors. The larger of the two rivers, the Colorado, carries with it a load of suspended reddish clay, from which the river originally got its name.
The Green River appears…well, green. That’s actually not the origin of the river’s name; it is called the Green River due to it being an oasis of green in the dry deserts.
When the rivers meet, the waters stay distinct for a short distance downstream – different temperatures and different sediment loads cause the waters to have different densities and allow them to remain distinct. But, as the river twists and turns, the waters are mixed together by fine-scale eddies and the distinct path of the Green River disappears.
-JBB
Image credit: Tom Till Photography, reproduced with permission
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