Investigating rates and mechanisms of lateral erosion in a small bedrock river using erosion pins, structure-from-motion photogrammetry, and luminescence dating

Abbey Leigh Marcotte has been studying the past and present erosion rates at Kings Creek, an incised stream in northeast Kansas, U.S.A. This system consists of horizontally bedded alternating layers of limestone and shale, presenting a unique setting to study controls on lateral bedrock erosion. Erosion pins and structure from motion were used to determine annual lateral erosion rates and spatio-temporal patterns of erosion along bedrock channel banks. Single-grain optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of fluvial deposits overlying a strath terrace (conducted here at DRILL) was used to determine deposition rates and duration of lateral channel mobility during terrace occupation.

Congrats to Abbey for successfully completing her MSc thesis, and for her new PhD position with the Soil Geography and Landscape Group at Wageningen University, the Netherlands!