Summary for Monday February 1st

Following our homework assignment over the weekend and our discussion at the beginning of class, you should now have a firm concept of recurrence intervals, how they are calculated, and interpreted. You should also be able to discuss local (Lex area) events in the context of RI. After our discussion of the "Great Flood of 1889", you should be able discuss the specific factors that led to the severity of this 'natural' disaster. These include: the nature of the watershed (size, average slope), the distribution of infrastructure in Johnstown, the nature of the storm, the size of the reservoir, the nature of the dam failure, the (lack of) warning, the role of railroad viaducts up and down river of downtown area, and the fateful location of the Cambria Iron Works. You should also be able to discuss the aftermath of this disaster and how its history effects on disaster relief and legal liability. Below, there is a modern terrain (topographic) map of the area where the South Fork Dam used to be. Notice that you can still see the remnants of the ramparts.


In preparation for a highly recommended outside 'lecture' opportunity coming up this Thursday evening, we will begin discussing the use of coal as one of the major sources of electricity production around the world and particularly in the US and how this affects water quality and, in some cases, even physical hydrology. For Wednesday, please come to class having read/watched the following:

A brief primer from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that defines mountain top mining and valley fill

A recent article in Science Magazine summarizing peer-reviewed scientific literature on the consequences of mountain mining. HTML version .pdf version

A 6:41 video clip of from the Cobert Report linked here from the Outside Magazine blog with an interview with Dr. Margaret Palmer, the lead author of the paper above. Once again, if you are unfamiliar with Stephen Cobert, The Cobert Report, or The Cobert Nation, please read this before watching the video (you probably do not need to read the entire entry).

PowerPoint slides shown in lecture today are now available as a .pdf on Sakai.

The my maps page has been updated with the locations mentioned in today's lecture.