Emriver Models in the Geosciences

Emriver models are ideal for teaching river dynamic principles in geology, hydrology, and fluvial geomorphology. They are easily set up in a classroom or lab for hands-on demonstrations and interaction, turning textbook knowledge into a simulated experience. Professors and their universities will find the models an ideal recruitment tool to attract students to a department or lab.

Topics and Lessons

• How rivers form, erosion, deposition, channel migration, point bars, cut banks, meander cut-offs, erosional terracing, delta development, headcuts, sediment transport, continuity, channel stability
• Concepts about smart development, floodplains, human impact
• Stream Table Lab for Environmental Geology 101 and follow-up lab
• Planetary studies; surface processes on Mars
• Lab: Introduction to applied fluvial geomorphology in stream ecology using the Emriver Em2. Teaching concepts include sediment transport process, continuity, river long profiles, adjustment to disturbance, influence on fish habitat.
• 3D Visualization Simulations using a Kinect system to teach hydrologic, geologic, and geographic concepts such as how to read a topo map and contour lines, watersheds, etc., using photogrammetry to create 3D models of a river system
• LiDar

From our Emriver Lab Manual:

• Slope variables and equations
• Measuring flow and discharge
• Groundwater behavior
• Stream surveying; cross sections and long profiles
• Hydrographs; make your own or use the pre-programmed flood events and hydrographs using the Alix digital flow controller
• Channelization, bank armoring

Emflume1:

• Sediment transport, fluid behavior, erosion and deposition, sediment layering, effects of bed material on flow, effects of bed forms on flow, effects of vegetation on flow

Videos

• Erosion and Deposition
• Effects of Dredging
• Rebalancing Bank Erosion Rates
• Weirs and Impact on River Life
• Em4 in Use
• Understanding Flooding
• Little River Research & Design and the Missouri Department of Conservation made a series of videos using the Emriver models to help students better understand geomorphic processes in rivers. Examples of the videos include headcuts, tributary incision, meandering, wetland draining, bank failure, mining, effects of dams and weirs. Our YouTube channel includes a playlist of all these River Geomorphology videos. Each video in the playlist includes a description, but you can also download a teaching guide.
  (Many of the videos are also available online, hosted by Carleton College. A DVD with all videos is included with a model purchase. Or you can purchase the entire series on DVD from Little River.)

Online Resources on Geoscience Education for Professors

• On the Cutting Edge – Strong Undergraduate Geoscience Teaching, a program by the National Association of Geoscience Teachers (NAGT). Includes resources to help professors improve their teaching of the geosciences.
• Carleton College’s Science Education Resource Center was founded to improve education in the Earth sciences and beyond. Engaging participants from more than 1,000 institutions of higher education and K-12 curriculum developers and teachers, they created one of the world’s largest collections of pedagogic resources. In collaboration with instructors, institutions and national organizations, they support educations, disseminate knowledge, and engage the community.

Classes

• Engineering geology: Using principles of geoscience to solve engineering and environmental problems
• Environmental geology: Solving problems associated with pollution, waste management, urbanization, and natural hazards, such as flooding and erosion
• Physical geology: Materials, processes, products, physical nature and history of the Earth
• Fluvial geomorphology: Earth’s landforms and landscapes in relation to the geologic and climatic processes and human activities which form them
• Hydrogeology: Occurrence, movement, abundance, distribution and quality of subsurface waters and related geologic aspects of surface waters
• Hydrology: Studying river systems to predict the impacts of flooding
• Sedimentology: The nature, origin, distribution and alteration of sediments such as sand, silt, and mud

Research

These journal publications, theses, and conference presentations feature Emriver models.

Theses

• Discriminating Meandering and Braided Channel Patterns on the Basis of Discharge and Slope using a Physical Laboratory Model: the Emriver River Process Simulator
• Qualitative and Quantitative Experiments Using the Em4 Physical Model
• The Use of Plastic Media in a Movable Bed Model to Study Sedimentary Processes in Rivers

Published Articles

• Comparing MODFLOW simulation options for predicting intra-meander flux, Han B. and Endreny T. 2014. Hydrol. Process. 28, 3824-3832. DOI: 10.1002/hyp.10186
• Detailed river stage mapping and head gradient analysis during meander cutoff in a laboratory river, Han B. and Endreny T. 2014. Water Resources Research, AGU. 50, 1689-1703 DOI: 10.1002/2013WR013580
• Spatial and Temporal intensification of lateral hyporheic flux in narrowing intra-meander zones, Han B. and Endreny T. 2013. Hydrol. Process. 27, 989-994. DOI: 10.1002/hyp.9250
• Hands-on – Remote Sensing of Physical Models in Exploration of Surficial Processes, Jeff Clark, Lawrence University; using our Emriver modeling media to demonstrate remote sensing concepts and procedures.

Presentation Abstracts

• Advances in the use of non-lithic media and close range photogrammetry in physical modeling of fluvial process, Gough S.C. 2011; GSA
• Student experiments in sediment transport, landform migration and channel modification in noncohesive river channels using a large-scale laboratory stream model, Londono, et al. 2010; GSA presentation from Saint Louis University, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
• Use of thermoplastic sand in physical models of fluvial systems, Gough S.C. 2009; GSA
• Asymmetrical Changes in Hydraulic Gradient Along Valley and River Transects During Meander Cutoff Evolution, Han B. and Endreny T. 2009; AGU from State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry
• Using the Emriver Em2 Geomodel in the Classroom to Simulate Impacts of Land Use and River Management Techniques on Fluvial Geomorphology, Ruffing, C. M., et al., GSA 2014.
• Beyond the Stream Table: Other Geoscience Education Applications for Ground Melamine Plastic, Kuchta, M., GSA 2014.