The Anthropocene fundamentally alters the way material fluxes move in what we used to call rivers. The physics of sedimentation is altered by different buoyancy of plastics, techno-materials, and by the fact that majority of rivers are highly fragmented or canalised. Cities are not only made of sedimented materials like quarried stones, glass, and bricks, they actively shape the material fluxes at planetary level by acting as major nodes of the technosphere.
Catherine Russell
Dr Catherine Russell researches on the impacts of human activities on Earth's surface processes, with a specialization in river systems. She is dedicated to establishing Anthropocene Sedimentology as a recognized sub-discipline within geoscience. Since Catherine earned her PhD in fluvial sedimentology in 2017, she founded the multidisciplinary Anthropocene Sediment Network in 2020, fostering collaboration among scientists in this emerging field. In 2024 and 2025, she taught the first courses on Anthropocene Sedimentology at the University of Vienna. She completed a Fulbright-Lloyd's of London Visiting Scholarship in Louisiana from 2022-2023, and was awarded the Roland Goldring Award in 2023 by the British Sedimentary Research Group for making a noteworthy contribution to sedimentology.