Photo from https://www.summitpost.org/grand-canyon-of-the-yellowstone-turbulent-waters/520338

Photo of Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

After looking at some rocks last week, we decided to go with the opposite route and look at some water.  Interestingly enough, there's a huge relationship between water and rocks, but more of that later.

We went to the Yellowstone River which is a part of the Missouri River Basin.  Who knew that rivers ran over such great distances?  It's crazy to think that this water ran through different states.  Looking at a map, it looks like it has a dendritic drainage pattern due to its tree like shape.  It looks like it has a bunch of smaller branches reaching outwards.

The specific section we visited had a really turbulent flow and was fast moving.  One friend commented that it looked fun to do some white water rafting in.  I was able to explain that it was turbulent due to having a steeper gradient.  I would also assume that the channel was pretty deep since it wasn't all that wide and yet it still had a pretty fast current.

The water didn't look muddy so it most likely didn't have a suspended load.  Though I couldn't see the bottom of the river, it most likely had a bed load as well due to its fast current.  Since the valley was V shaped, there must have been a lot of abrasion as well which would confirm that it would carry bed load.

I don't think there was too much of a chance of flooding from a flash flood because the area didn't look like it would lend itself to much runoff.  There were no parking lots or things that would reject infiltration.  However, since I had heard that it snows further up stream during the winter, there might be a chance of a regional flood.  Talking with a ranger we saw, I was able confirm that it does flood during the spring time when the snow melts.  In order to help resist any damage from the flooding, the rangers have implemented artificial leevees.

It was a pretty interesting trip and I liked being able to see what the water was able to do to the rock.  It was interesting to see what years and years of carrying bedload would do to a canyon.