Each year streams erode about 14 cubic kilometers of sediment. This amount could fill a train of railroad cars that would encircle Earth's equator 34 times. If this amount of sediment was spread over your home state, how thick would it be?

What will be an ideal response?


amount of sediment was spread over your home state, how thick would it be?
This question requires the student to find out the surface area of their home state in square kilometers and to divide 14 cubic kilometers by that area value. For example, Ohio has an area of 2147.5 square kilometers (44,828 square miles), so the global sediment delivery would be sufficient to cover the state of Ohio with by a blanket of sediment 6.5 meters thick.

Environmental & Atmospheric Sciences

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