Erosion

This photograph was taken in Alaska. The patterning in the earth is called an "alluvial fan". It is produced when sediments carried by glacial outwash are deposited.

Branching patterns that are made by water can be found all over the earth's surface, at many different scales. Patterns only a few centimeters across that can be found on a beach can be compared to mighty river systems that stretch across half a continent.

At the museum exhibit you would have the opportunity to produce several different kinds of erosion patterns:

• an experiment to demonstrate groundwater sapping erosion

• river erosion

• small scale run-off erosion