[04/25] Dr Rebekah Harries (IHRR PDRA) led an interdisciplinary field team to investigate the evolution and vulnerability of river terraces to erosion during catastrophic sediment-rich flows.
Collaboration continues between researchers of the Sediment Cascades and Climate Change group, led by Dr Harries, ten months after the kick-off workshop in June 2023. Following a reunion meeting at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, researchers from the IHRR, University of Edinburgh, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and Universidad de Chile collaborated on fieldwork in the Rio Teno catchment.
In this mountain catchment, previous extreme floods in 1986, 2008 and 2023 eroded away over half of the houses built on terraces along the Rio Teno and have removed kilometres of road network along the lowest terrace, isolating upstream communities. The research group have collected detailed datasets to map and constrain the climatic and environmental drivers of terrace erosion. This information is crucial for developing effective risk management strategies and improving local resilience.
Photo Credit: Paulina Vergara 2025
Drone image of Los Quenes, an expanding mountain settlement built on eroding river terraces in the Chilean Andes.
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