Concord250: Discord on the Concord: River Ice Breakup and the Revolution of the Seasons (Then and Now)
The Sudbury-Assabet-Concord (SuAsCo) Wild and Scenic River Stewardship Council hosts University of Connecticut Professor Robert Thorson and a special presentation on the history of our rivers as part of Concord250.
A frequent and engaging speaker in Concord, Dr. Thorson is a Midwestern native, turned Northwestern geologist, turned Northeastern academic. He is a life member of the Thoreau Society, serves on its board, and is the author of The Guide to Walden Pond (2018), The Boatman (2017), Walden’s Shore (2014), Beyond Walden (2009), The Walden Experiments (in review at Princeton Press), and other works. Since 1984 he has been a Professor of Earth Sciences UConn where he commutes to work on a woodland path.
His talk, “Discord on the Concord: River Ice Breakup and the Revolution of the Seasons (Then and Now)” will feature his new analysis of historic seasonal changes in the rivers, from spring ice breakup to their typical slow and dark path through our town in summer. Zooming out from the Old North Bridge, Dr. Thorson will explain this river system’s unusual behavior, how ice-jam flooding may have played a key role in bridge history between 1660 and 1793, and how climate change in our 21st century is transforming the river we have known.
