[after only 10 minutes!]
[20 minutes, the ocean is not a willing mixer]
Monday, December 15, 2008
Silt
We had a big rain recently. I live next to the mouth of the small river that flows through Zamami. After only ten minutes of rain I was amazed at how quickly the water hit the ground, collected into streamulets (I made that up, didn't I?), grabbed some dirt, and flowed out into the ocean.
[after only 10 minutes!]
[20 minutes, the ocean is not a willing mixer]
[after only 10 minutes!]
[20 minutes, the ocean is not a willing mixer]
We get the same thing here in Higashi. All the pineapple farms run-off like mad during a big rain. The stuff is called 赤土 あかつち, red dirt. I'm very interested in what effect it has on the immediate sea life.
ReplyDeleteI think most of our silt runoff is probably due to the civilization that surrounds the river. All of the upstream water from the watershed collects behind the dam. So I wonder how silty it would be minus human development?
ReplyDeleteI also think quite hard about the effect on the oceans. Surely there are creatures who benefit and others who quit breathing for a little while or forever. I guarantee you some species come TO the runoff because there is also a plethora of food flowing in that dirty water. But our river flows into the mostly dead harbor, which has been dredged, so probably not much further harm.