2023-06-15 16:32:30
Colorado collects huge amounts of sand and silt coming down from the Rocky Mountains, but the dam prevents nearly all of it from reaching the Grand Canyon. Tributaries such as the Paria and Little Colorado add some sediment to the river, but not as much as what is trapped in Lake Powell. In addition, when the flow of rivers is low, more sediments are deposited in its bed.
As a result, the canyon’s sandy beaches, where animals live and boatmen camp at night, are shrinking. Beaches that were once as wide as highways are now more like two-lane highways. Others are even more degraded.
Aside from sand, the Colorado cannot move larger objects through the canyon. Pebbles and rocks periodically arrive from hundreds of tributaries and side canyons, often during flash floods, creating bends and rapids in the river. With fewer powerful flows to carry this debris, more of it is accumulating on the bed. This made many rapids steeper and narrowed the passages for navigating them.
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