U.S. officials released a flood into the Grand Canyon to try to undo damage caused by the construction of the Glen Canyon Dam in the 1960s.
The man-made flood, started Wednesday, was to continue for 60 hours at a rate of about 41,500 cubic feet per second, the Interior Department said. The water released from the power plant and bypass tubes at Glen Canyon Dam is expected to push sand built up at the bottom of the Colorado River channel into a series of sandbars and beaches along the river.
Scientists are monitoring how the high-flow releases affect the the well-being of native fish, particularly the endangered humpback chub.
"This experiment has been timed to take advantage of the highest sediment deposits in a decade and designed to better assess the ability of these releases to rebuild beaches that provide habitat for endangered wildlife and campsites for thousands of Grand Canyon National Park tourists," Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said in a statement.
The water was released at a rate that would fill the Empire State Building within twenty minutes, the agency said.
Copyright 2008 by United Press International
Related stories:
Stakeholders use science to find common ground on wood supply from forests
Northern Arizona University has released a report that identifies the potential volume of wood resources available from more than 2 million acres of Arizona forests, representing the first major agreement among groups typically at odds over the issue of forest thinning.
Evolution tied to Earth movement
Scientists long have focused on how climate and vegetation allowed human ancestors to evolve in Africa. Now, University of Utah geologists are calling renewed attention to the idea that ground movements formed mountains and valleys, creating environments that favored the emergence of humanity.
Mohave power plant set to close
A coal-fired power plant that emitted vast quantities of air pollution that clouded views of the Grand Canyon will close at year's end.
Calif condors' animal instinct takes over in fire
(AP) -- As wildfire whipped toward a remote sanctuary of the endangered California condor last month, the rare birds got their biggest test in survival after years of pampering by biologists: They had to live completely on their own.
Long Wait Before Next China Quake?
A new analysis of the setting for May's devastating earthquake in China shows that the quake resulted from faults with little seismic activity--and that similar events in that area occur, on average, only once every 2,000 to 10,000 years. However, geologists caution that because earthquakes can sometimes occur in clusters, people should still be wary of another possible large-scale earthquake.
China quake rare and unexpected, new study says
A new analysis of the setting for last month's devastating earthquake in China by a team of geoscientists at MIT shows that the quake resulted from faults with little seismic activity, and that similar events in that area occur only once in every 2,000 to 10,000 years, on average.
New system estimates geographic location of photos
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have devised the first computerized method that can analyze a single photograph and determine where in the world the image likely was taken. It's a feat made possible by searching through millions of GPS-tagged images in the Flickr online photo collection.
Pyrite deposits across the state may be tied to an Eocene meteor
In 2003, during construction of Interstate 99 in Centre County, Pennsylvania, state road builders hit the mother lode. That's a bad thing.