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There's another possibility of the event this author calls "river piracy." The Mississippi river is chronically at risk of being grabbed by the Atchafalaya Riv

There's another possibility of the event this author calls "river piracy." The Mississippi river is chronically at risk of being grabbed by the Atchafalaya River. John McPhee wrote about this in 1987. http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1987/02/23/atchafalaya http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1987/02/23/atchafalaya

nickbauman 10y ago
Loved that piece. It's part of a collection: The Control of Nature. Made me realize all the more that the life on planet earth isn't all about us and our little schemes.
nostrademons 10y ago
The Salton Sea is also an example. Its current incarnation was formed through accidental diversion of the Colorado River through an irrigation canal, and its continued existence is sustained through agricultural runoff from diverted Colorado River water. The Colorado River no longer reaches the Gulf of Baja in most years. http://www.water.ca.gov/saltonsea/documents/history.cfm http://www.water.ca.gov/saltonsea/documents/history.cfm
- dragonwriter 10y ago
  > The Colorado River no longer reaches the Gulf of Baja in most years. As your source gets correct, the body of water in question is the Gulf of California, not the "Gulf of Baja".
  - narrowrail 10y ago
    O/T: The Baja peninsula is great for camping except June-Aug, and I've spent ~15 weeks along [what we called] the Sea of Cortez. So, I went to wikipedia and apparently, it's gotten somewhat political. I can see both sides, but for other folks who like to lurk talk pages (the first thread is a discussion about what to call this body of water): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Gulf_of_California https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Gulf_of_California
- cjensen 10y ago
  If you check out Google Maps, you'll see that the Colorado does in fact reach the Gulf of California. Not an impressive amount, but some. Enough that water clarity in the north part of the gulf is significantly worse than the south (a few feet versus tens of feet).
burntrelish1273 10y ago
For a second, I was thinking sand piracy. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/indias-illegal-sand-mining-fuels-boom-ravages-rivers/2012/05/19/gIQA3HzdaU_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/indias-ill...

nickbauman 10y ago

Loved that piece. It's part of a collection: The Control of Nature. Made me realize all the more that the life on planet earth isn't all about us and our little schemes.

nostrademons 10y ago

The Salton Sea is also an example. Its current incarnation was formed through accidental diversion of the Colorado River through an irrigation canal, and its continued existence is sustained through agricultural runoff from diverted Colorado River water. The Colorado River no longer reaches the Gulf of Baja in most years. http://www.water.ca.gov/saltonsea/documents/history.cfm http://www.water.ca.gov/saltonsea/documents/history.cfm

dragonwriter 10y ago
> The Colorado River no longer reaches the Gulf of Baja in most years. As your source gets correct, the body of water in question is the Gulf of California, not the "Gulf of Baja".
- narrowrail 10y ago
  O/T: The Baja peninsula is great for camping except June-Aug, and I've spent ~15 weeks along [what we called] the Sea of Cortez. So, I went to wikipedia and apparently, it's gotten somewhat political. I can see both sides, but for other folks who like to lurk talk pages (the first thread is a discussion about what to call this body of water): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Gulf_of_California https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Gulf_of_California
cjensen 10y ago
If you check out Google Maps, you'll see that the Colorado does in fact reach the Gulf of California. Not an impressive amount, but some. Enough that water clarity in the north part of the gulf is significantly worse than the south (a few feet versus tens of feet).

burntrelish1273 10y ago

For a second, I was thinking sand piracy. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/indias-illegal-sand-mining-fuels-boom-ravages-rivers/2012/05/19/gIQA3HzdaU_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/indias-ill...