Amazon sediment studied through Andes trip down tributary

A team of researchers led by scientists from the University of South Carolina Dornsife traveled to the Peruvian jungle to understand how sediment and plant matter travel down the Andes Mountains and into the Amazon River system, according a first-person account from Sarah Feakins, assistant professor of earth sciences at USC Dornsife.

The team focused on a tributary to the Amazon River, the Kosnipata River. They started at the headwaters, traveling up treacherous gravel mountain roads. They ended in the Amazonian floodplain, where Feakins said the river was orange from colloids in the soil.

The team spent most of their time collecting and filtering water to obtain sediment samples. Feakins described the work as collecting by day and filtering by night.

Click here to read the first person account, describing the river roads, terrain and sediment seen during the journey.

Image: Peruvian Andes (Credit: Thomas Quine, via Flickr)