Dr. Helen Willemien Dow (maiden name: Beeson)

In the High Plains, USA, large rivers sourced in the Rocky Mountains cut through elevated plains comprised of the remnants of ancient depositional fans. These fans have limited drainage networks but are dotted with ephemeral lakes that host high ecosystem diversity and provide important habitat on the Pacific Flyway. The fan surface also provides one of the world's largest aquifers, and consequently valuable farmland in an otherwise arid landscape. Through quantitative analysis of the river network, we demonstrate that this older landscape is actively being cannibalized by larger, dendritic rivers draining the Rocky Mountains, and that the poorly-integrated network on the preserved fan surface results in the observed unique hydrology and associated ecosystem diversity.