River Meanders Elevation Tints Fine Art Print Map

Rivers want to meander, and flat country can preserve a long sequence of resulting channel shifts. This lidar image uses a white-to-blue-to-purple-toblack color ramp to show an elevation drop of about fifty feet along a stretch of the Willamette River between Albany and Salem, Oregon. Direction of flow is from south at the top to north at the bottom. The Santiam River enters from the east (left, in this view). Gravel pits, railroad beds and other human modifications give a sense of scale.