Lesson and Photo of the Day

Mmm. Floods. I don't know what it is about them, but I love floods. We become so accustomed to seeing water in certain places, and when said water breaches it's banks it creates, to me anyways, a whole new world.

Floods like the one we see in the picture are generally "absorbed" by riparian zone ecosystems which are generally recognized as the wooded borders of perennial streams. Riparian zones accept some excess sediment load from streams, absorb nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen (instead of depositing them in estuarine environments and creating hypoxic environments) and create beautiful woodland habitat.

This particular flood occurred in Spring 2009, in Blossvale, NY. Spring meltwater from the Tug Hill Plateau (which received over 9' of snow in some places) rapidly makes it's way downstream to Oneida Lake (after being intercepted by the NYS Barge Canal).