RSM River Mechanics Podcast
This podcast features conversations about river mechanics, sediment transport, and fluvial geomorphology. Host Stanford Gibson talks with experts about how rivers flow, move sediment, and shape the landscape. It is a technical but accessible show for anyone interested in hydrology, engineering, and earth sciences. Each episode explores research and practical applications in river science.
Episodes
Gary Parker on Gravel Bed Rivers
Dr. Gary Parker is one of the defining figures in modern river mechanics and sediment transport. He's a professor emeritus at the University of Illinois or Urbana Champlain where he's been since 2005. Before that he was a distinguished professor at the University of Minnesota. He's a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Geophysical Union and has w
Floodplain Sedimentation Pannel with Desiree Tullos, Janine Castro, and Jon Czuba
About a year ago an interdisciplinary tam at Oregon State invited a collection of subject matter experts for workshop on floodplain sedimentation processes. The workshop took up a very specific question but gathering this much expertise on floodplain landforms and processes generated a wide-ranging discussion of how floodplains work, how to restore them, and even what they are. So when Desiree T
Bill Dietrich on Meander Mechanics, Hillslopes, and Where Rivers Begin
Over his career Dr. Bill Dietrich has had an outsized influence on both the discipline of geomorphology and the community that surrounds the discipline. He is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Earth and Planetary Science at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Dietrich is one of the most influential geomorphologists of the last several decades, known for developing process-based theo
Cohesive Sediment Properties and Processes with David Perkey, Jarrell Smith and Danielle Tarpley
So far on this podcast we've generally used the noun "sediment" to describe sand, gravel, and maybe cobbles and boulders. But the same word also gets used for silts, clays, and muds - materials that behave so differently that lumping them together as "sediment" can blur important distinctions. This podcast was overdue for a conversation about fine sediment, and I knew exa
Mike Spoor on the Ohio River, Bank Failure, Glacial and Coal Mining Sediment Legacies...and 60 Years Working with Rivers
I only know one person who can claim >60 years of federal service. This episode's guest, Mike Spoor. Mike spent those years with the US Army Corps of Engineers Huntington District (in West Virginia on the banks of the Ohio River) and even more years before that as a contractor to the Kansas City District.But Mike did not just log federal service. He focused curiosity and insight with a
David Topping on the Grand Canyon Prototype Experiments, Disequilibrium Transport, and Hysteresis
Dr. David Topping is a Research Hydrologist with the US Geological Survey.He did his undergrad at MIT, a masters and Phd at the University of Washington and has published >100 well cited peer review publications. Dr Topping has worked with the USGS for >30 years but for the last 18 or so have been with the Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center in Flagstaff AZ where he has been one of
Rob Ettema on River Ice, Ice-Sediment Interactions, and Sediment Scientist Biographies
I grew up in one of North America’s great snow belts…and started my career in Buffalo NYSo, that background and my fascination with sediment transport primes curiosity in ice transport.I’m sure my ice friends would cringe at this, but I sometimes call ice transport as upside down sediment transport.But despite the symmetry of ice and sediment transport, they are separate, complicated, disciplines
Pierre Julien on Bed Forms, High Concentration Flow, and Engineering Rules of Thumb
Dr. Pierre Julien joined the Colorado State faculty almost 40 years ago, where he worked at CSU’s Engineering Research Center and Hydraulics laboratory. His book, Erosion and Sedimentation, is one of my most common references, and several of the algorithms we have in HEC-RAS (particularly for mud and debris flows) come directly from this text. But while Dr. Julien’s textbook includes as many par
Ellen Wohl on World Rivers, River Restoration, and the Dimensions of Fluvial Connectivity
We’re kicking this season off with one of the most prolific researchers in River Science. Dr. Ellen Wohl is a Fluvial Geomorphologist at Colorado State’s Warner College of Natural Resources.As we will discuss, Dr. Wohl has explored and studied rivers on 6 continents (so far). But she has also focused on river processes in the Colorado front range for more than 20 years, Turning up some important
"Ask an Editor" with Amy East (Bonus short)
The peer review process can feel like hazing to a new (or not-so-new) river scientist. Many excellent practitioners are learning from their rivers every day, but it can feel like if it doesn't get into peer review, it doesn't "count." So we separated this short segment from my conversation with Dr. Amy East, the Editor-in-Chief of AGU's Journal of Geophysical Research: E
Peter Wilcock on Gravel Bed Rivers, Partial Transport, Armor Layer Persistence and Channel Design (Plus Wilcock & Crowe)
When HEC hired me to add sediment transport to HEC-RAS almost 20 years ago now, I inherited a set of sediment transport functions that were mostly developed in the early to mid 20th century. These were – and continue to be – important equations.But when I sat down with the RAS team To talk about the new science I was excited to include in a river mechanics model.I pulled out the same binder I bro
Mary Power on River Ecology, Disturbance, and Inverted Pyramids
tDr. Power is a food web ecologist at UC Berkeley, where she leads the Power lab which has compiled careful, long term data sets in the Angelo Reserve in Northern CA.In addition to her early work, in Panama and the Ozarks - which we touch on briefly - Dr. Power’s multi-decadal data sets on the Eel River, have yielded remarkable findings about how food webs function in gravel bed rivers…and spoile
Alain Recking on Sediment Sorting, Transport, and Relative Roughness in Mountain Rivers
Dr Alain Recking has quantified gravel bed transport with just about all the tools available to our discipline.In addition to substantial field work- Dr. Recking has done some important and influential flume experiments.We have talked and will talk about hiding and armoring quite a bit in this podcast, because they are difficult ideas, that are hard to measure and simulate, and critical to gravel
Sediment Modeling Failure Modes and Best Practices with Four Model Developers
A couple years ago, my agency asked me to write some guidance on sediment modeling, so, I reached out to the morphological modelers I knew, and particularly the model developers who write the morphological model code other people use.I asked them about the common failure modes they have seen and best practices they teach, and realized we had all essentially spent a decade or two, learning the same
Tony Thomas on the Origin of Sediment Modeling and Insights from >55 Years of Sediment Studies
I’ve heard people call Tony the godfather of Sediment Transport Modeling and - as you’ll hear in our conversation - he very well may be the first person to use a computer to answer an engineering scale sediment question.But most people about my age and older, know Tony for developing the first generalized sediment model. He was part of the original team here at the Hydrologic Engineering Center (
Jim Selegean and the "Classic Paper Draft"
Dr. Jim Selegean is the Sediment Transport Specialist at the Corps Detroit District where he studies the rivers and sediment loads into the great lakes as well as inland costal processes. He is also a professor at Wayne State in Detroit. And that joint position has helped him mentor many young scientists and engineers throughout the years, geomorphically trained Hydraulic engineers who not only c
Astrid Blom on Incision on the Rhine, Gravel-Sand Transitions, and Vertical Bedform Sorting
Dr. Astrid Blom is a professor Civil Engineering & Geosciences at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands is perhaps best known for her recent reach and rive scale work, modeling hundreds of kilometers, sometimes for hundreds or thousands of years. These models explore the long-term equilibrium state of river responses to human modifications and the alternate potential futures assoc
Marcello Garcia (part 2) on Sedimentation Hazards, the Bulle Effect, and Transport Paradigms
In the previous episode, we talked to Dr. Marcelo Garcia about the astonishing compilation of sediment science he edited, the ASCE Sedimentation Manual. In this episode, we turn to some of his work, covering a wide range of topics, but landing for a while on sedimentation hazards including mud and debris flows, the Bulle Effect, and two transport paradigms (the Bagnold vs the Einstein approaches
Marcelo Garcia Shares Some Sediment Stories and Discusses Manual of Practice 110
Dr. Marcelo Garcia holds an endowed chair in Hydraulics at the University of Illinois-Urbana – where he has taught for more than thirty years, and runs the remarkable Ven Te Chow hydraulic and sediment laboratory. His award page reads like a who’s-who of the Legends in our field. These include but are not limited to:The Einstein Award, the Rouse Award, and the Yalin lifetime achievement award.And
David Montgomery on High Gradient River Mechanics (Classification, Incipient Motion, and Wood) and Sediment Impacts on Human History
Dr. David Montgomery has been so prolific, that for several years I actually thought he was two people:First, Dr. D. Montgomery is a well known geomorphologist from the University of Washington (and a 2008 MacArthur Fellow) whose name is on much of the seminal, high-gradient channel transport and classification literature. And then there David Montgomery, the narrative non-fiction author from Sea
Season 3 Preview Episode (with guest excerpts)
We plan to start releasing season three on the first week of the new year. It was a fun and helpful season, which I'm looking forward to releasing.This preview overviews the guests and topics of the season with fun pull quotes from most of the guests.Look for the next episode the first week of January.This series was funded by the Regional Sediment Management (RSM) program.Mike Loretto edite
Jennifer Bountry on Dam Removal
Jennifer Bountry leads the Sedimentation and River Hydraulics Branch of the US Bureau of Reclamation's Technical Service Center in Denver, CO where she helped to coordinate and draft an interagency guidance document on scaling sediment transport analyses to the project risk. It is a helpful and important document that I recommend to any group moving towards a dam removal, to help them triage
John Shelley and Paul Boyd on Reservoir Sediment Management in the US
In the first two episodes of this season Dr. Annandale and Dr. Morris talked about reservoir sediment management practices all over the world. But examples in the continental US were noticeably absent. Reservoir sediment management in the US has encountered some challenges that have made US agencies slow to adopt these practices. But Dr. Paul Boyd and Dr. John Shelley are involved in more reser
Greg Morris on Reservoir Sediment Management Methods
Dr. Greg Morris wrote the first text on reservoir sediment management, which generated the categories and set the parameters for a lot of the work and conversations surrounding the topic in the last three decades. Most of us who work in this field got our start with his Reservoir Sedimentation Handbook. But he has also likely worked on more reservoirs with sedimentation issues - in more settings
George Annandale on the Reservoir Sedimentation Management: Motivations, Economics, and Options
Dr. George Annandale has been advocating for forward thinking about global water supply for decades...which is more connected to sedimentation processes than you might imagine. In his book, Quenching the Thirst he makes the case that reservoir sedimentation is one of the major challenges to future water supply and managing sediment at new and existing projects is a critical component of sustainab
Season 2 Trailer: Reservoir Sediment Management Mini-Season
The RSM River Mechanics Podcast is returning with a summer mini-season on reservoir sediment management. We recorded four episodes on this topic with some remarkable guests, so we're running them together this summer as a shorter "Season 2" before we release a full season this fall. Episodes include:Ep 2:1 – Dr. George Annandale on the Motivation, Economics, and Approaches to Rese
David Biedenharn on River Mechanics Forensics and His Approach to River Science
We are wrapping up season 1 with the second half of our first interview. This is the rest of my conversation with US Army Corps of Engineers River Mechanics and River Engineering Subject-Matter Expert, Dr. David Biedenharn.If you have feedback on this season, recommendations for season 2 guests, or want to weigh in on our classic paper survey, there is a google form on the podcast website below.T
Pablo Espinoza Giron and Pedro David Barrera Crespo on the Generational Erosion Event on the Rio Coca
The regressive erosion on the Rio Coca (Ecuador) may be the morphological event of our generation. But, because it happened in February 2020, when there was not much room in the news cycle, most people haven't heard about it...even in the geomorph community. In this episode we try to rectify that. I talked to Pablo Espinoza Giron and Pedro David Barrera Crespo, two of the scientists/engine
Richard Iverson on Debris Flows
Dr. Richard Iverson led the mud and debris flow investigations at the USGS Cascade Volcano Observatory for years, including large scale flume and numerical work that unlocked a remarkable number of new insights about these high-concentration flows. His findings have influenced the way I think about these events more than any other source.With the rising interest in post-wildfire debris flow haz
Katie Brutsche on RSM Principles and Practices
Dr. Katie Brutsche led the Regional Sediment Management Program for several years. Regional Sediment Management is the "RSM" in the title of this podcast, and the reason this project exists. RSM is the aspirational conceptual model of the Corps of Engineer's sediment management over the last couple decades. We talk about the principles of RSM, the RSM process, some example projec
Chris Nygaard on Dam Removal Modeling, Mt Saint Helens Sediment, and Restoration Projects
I recently described Chris Nygaard as the Corps’ BSPS, our 'Big Sediment Pulse Specialist.' He led sediment analysis and modeling on the Corps’ latest evaluation of Mount Saint Helens downstream-sediment impacts and a dam removal alternative on the Snake River. In those projects he analyzed the fate of sediment pulses (real or hypothetical) on the order of hundreds-of-millions of tons
Bonus Short: SEDHYD is Coming
We plan to occasionally push out short bonus episodes between our longform conversations. This first bonus short is a conversation with two of the organizers of the Federal Interagency Sediment Conference, which will be in St Louis in May. SEDHYD is a conference that specializes in applied river mechanics and engineering topics, and has a lot of overlap with the topics of the conversations we&ap
John Remus on the "Big Muddy" and the "Sediment Avengers"
John Remus leads a team of Corps of Engineers, sediment and river engineering, subject-matter experts. This team (which I like to call "the Sediment Avengers") deploys to the Corps' most problematic sediment and morphological challenges around the country. And that's a fitting role for the man who manages the river sometimes called the "Big Muddy." In his "da
Joanna Curran on Gravel Bed Rivers, Wilcock and Crowe, and Step-Pool Systems
Dr. Joanna Curran is probably best know for her early, academic, laboratory work on step-pool systems, gravel cluster turbulence, and the Wilcock and Crowe transport function. But she has since worked on northwestern rivers with several engineering firms, and most recently joined the Corps of Engineers at the Seattle District. This academic/private sector/public sector perspective and experimen
Ron Copeland on Analytical Channel Design, the Laursen-Copeland Transport Function, and Mississippi Morphology
Ron Copeland has worked for the Corps of Engineers for over 5 decades, 52 years at the Los Angeles district and the Corps' Coastal and Hydraulics lab in Vicksburg Mississippi. He also worked for 10 years as a principle engineer at Mobile Boundary Hydraulics, which was the premiere 1D sediment transport modeling firm for decades. But Dr. Copeland has not only been on a very short list of the
Molly Wood on Sediment Data
Molly Wood is the National Sediment Specialist for the USGS Water Resources Mission Area’s Observing Systems Division. She develops policies and methods for measuring fluvial sediment transport and for computing streamflow using complex rating techniques. She also teaches national and international training courses on surface-water and sediment data collection.I have lost track of just how much of
David Biedenharn on the Demonstration Project and River Engineering
Dr. David Biedenharn is a river mechanics, subject matter expert, with the Corps of Engineer's Coastal and Hydraulic Laboratory. He is a professional engineer with over forty years of experience in hydraulics, river engineering, sedimentation, channel restoration, and fluvial geomorphology. Dr. Biedenharn also teaches in the Tulane Department of Science and Engineering, where he helped deve
River Mechanics Podcast Trailer
This is a preview of the RSM River Mechanics Podcast, which features conversations about sediment, river processes, and fluvial geomorphology. The trailer includes excerpts from several of the Season 1 guests.This series was funded by the Regional Sediment Management (RSM) program.Mike Loretto edited the first three seasons and created the theme music.Tessa Hall is editing most of Season 4.Stanfo
