Wednesday 6 January 2010

Brown



Why is the Yarra so brown and opaque lately? Yes, I know it's always brown, but on a sunny day under blue skies, it usually appears blue. What's going on?

4 comments:

  1. It is due to colloidal material (read clay particals) washed into the river from the upper reaches that stay suspended along the river's course. It is likely due to the rain around new years.

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  2. I noticed that when sitting at Riverland bar. Clear sunny day and the river was so brown. Looks like Dam Buster has the answer.

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  3. Hey db. I thought it would be something to do with rain upstream. It's been like this for at least a week now though. I would have thought water from the rain would have flowed to the sea by now?

    Hi Andrew. At first I thought it was just me - I'd been away for Christmas, looking at all those big, wide rivers up north and forgot how murky the Yarra was! But then my flatmate commented on it, so I knew it wasn't just me.

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  4. FL - The material can stay in the water almost indefinately.

    There is a bit more in there at the moment as a reult of the bushfires as well as the soil is more prone to erosion when there is less undergrowth.

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