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Featured Faculty: Karen GranAssistant Professor, Department of Geological Sciences
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Karen's research in fluvial geomorphology focuses on how rivers respond to disturbances through changes in sediment transport and channel morphology. Sheuses a blend of traditional field research, physical experimental laboratory studies, and spatial analyses in GIS. This work has taken her from Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines following the 1991 eruption to the Minnesota River valley to assess watershed history effects on sediment loading. Locally, she is working on sediment sources in North Shore streams with a pilot project on Amity Creek in Duluth.
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| Amity Creek Duluth MN |
O'Donnell River Philippines |
Pasig Potrero River Philippines |
Within the field of fluvial geomorphology, Karen has worked on a wide variety of projects including the role of vegetation on river processes, sediment transport under conditions of changing sediment supply, river recovery following volcanic eruptions, hydraulic geometry of bedrock channels, watershed-scale erosion rates and processes following massive landscape disturbance, and gravel distribution patterns in Ozark streams.
Her interests extend from basic, fundamental research to research that uses geomorphology to help inform current watershed and stream corridor management. She is currently involved in several projects in Minnesota that involve untangling the geomorphic and recent anthropogenic history of watersheds to determine dominant sediment sources in agricultural and forested watersheds in Minnesota. This research can have direct implications on Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) development by local agencies. It will also help us understand better how channels respond to watershed-scale changes in land use and hydrology over decadal to century time scales.