Pebble Examination Options

[Danny Metzger]

What was the significance of examining the pebbles on the "fan"? How did the amount of pebbles relate to the sediment in the water or melting rate? Exactly what tests or examinations were done on the pebbles and how did they help your studies?

Why do the water levels increase? Is it just as a result of temperature increase, or are there more climate and storm related factors? I know that it is a result of global warming, but i remember hearing that it had something to do with the climates of tropical regions as well.

[Robert_Oddo]

Danny,
You bring back bad memories. Pebble counts were probably my least favorite thing to do. You would set out a transect and every 5 meters identify the pebble that intersected with the tape measure. What we were trying to do is determine what was eroding from adjacent mountains and seeing if there were specific markers that we might see when the pebbles eroded away and ended up in the sediments in the bottom of the lake.

If you are referring to the lake and river level going up and down this was more related to the melting of the glacier that fed the river and lake. The lake level would increase when the glacier was melting a lot and then the level would go down when the glacier melted less.
Thanks for the questions.