Giving Compass' Take:

• Hannah Hickey explains how logging accelerated the erosion of the Teanaway River, interfering with geologic time. 

• How can funders work to ensure the long-term health of rivers? 

• Learn about the benefits of healthy rivers. 

The effects of logging show that human activity can significantly erode bedrock, causing geology to fast forward, according to new research.

Geologic time is supposed to be slow, and the most solid object should be bedrock. But the new study, which focuses on a picturesque river in central Washington state called the Teanaway River, upends both concepts.

“In the last century, we have more river incision in this area than expected. Something caused these rivers to start eroding a lot more,” says lead author Sarah Schanz, a postdoctoral researcher at Indiana University.

“We know the Teanaway River has eroded into bedrock before, naturally—it has some terraces that are 1,800 years old. But this current cycle is anthropogenic, or human-driven.”

The research shows that practices related to logging caused bedrock incision of up to 2 meters (6 feet) along the riverbed. As much as a half of what had been a floodplain transformed into a new terrace abutting the river.

Read the full article about the Teanaway River's erosion by Hannah Hickey at Futurity.