Category: Analysis
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A River Runs Through It. Proposed Gatwick Northern Runway expansion and impacts on the River Mole
(Note: this was written by me in October 2023) ABSTRACT Overall, the Gatwick Northern Runway Project has schemes that could improve on existing flood risk mitigation and water quality management. Several schemes seek to improve the local river environment and access to it. Examples of welcome improvements include the Museum Field FCA, the de-culverting of…
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A short story about Rainfall and Runoff in two recent contrasting rain events in September and how the River Mole responded.
Here is a quick review of two recent early Autumn rainfall-runoff events producing quite contrasting responses in the River Mole. Just to point out this was not a flooding event, far from it…the river has been in unusually low flow for much of the Summer and this early Autumn rain was most welcome to top…
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Levelling up? Uneven patterns of recent rainfall highlight characteristic river response and signpost future management strategy in the River Mole catchment.
Thunderstorms tracked across the Lower Mole basin in the early hours of 29 June 2023 but they largely missed the Upper Mole. The storms were much heavier over the Lower Mole to the north of the catchment over places like Molesey and Esher. In contrast the Upper Mole catchment to the south of Dorking received…
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Are the finger prints of Climate Change over the fish die-off in the Upper Mole?
A significant and very saddening fish die-off occurred on Sunday 11 June – Monday 12 June 2023 in the Upper River Mole between Charlwood and Horley along the realigned channel below the confluence of Man’s Brook. This post outlines the nature of the location, details of the event itself and explores some possible causes.
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Storms last week show how events in the Upper Mole control discharge through the whole drainage basin
Unsettled weather last week featured a good deal of showery convective storms over different parts of the Mole catchment each day. How these rainfall events contributed to discharge downstream highlights many of the unusual characteristics of the Mole catchment and how it deals with inputs of precipitation. Here’s a diagram to remind us of some…
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From deluge to drought… building resilience in the River Mole catchment by “spongifying” the landscape!
In this post, I review flood management in the Mole catchment as it is now, including other nature based schemes; I also look at the benefits of Natural Flood Management and how they can contribute to flood control, reduction of pollution and increase resilience to drought; I also review NFM techniques, including benefits and potential…
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Lords Almighty! Causes of storm overflows, solutions to pollution and securing a future sustainable water supply.
What are the causes of river pollution and what recommendations are made by the Lords Report to improve river health and secure water supply for future generations?
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Making Mole Hills out of Mountains: Part 3
This is Part 3 of the epic story of the formation of the River Mole catchment and the Weald. It’s a challenge piecing together the key events of the Tertiary relating to the Mole landscape. This post has become a discussion weighing up different theories and following threads of evidence from various articles and references.…
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Making Mole Hills out of Mountains. Part 2: The Mesozoic Trough
Part 2 of the formation of the River Mole landscape: this post covers the 200 million years of the Mesozoic era in which the rocks comprising the surface of the Weald were laid down.
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Making Mole hills out of Mountains: the formation of the Mole and the Weald
Part 1: The Palaeozoic Floor This is the epic story of how the landscape of the River Mole catchment has been formed. Geographically we are dealing with the Downs, the Weald, the Mole Gap and the London Basin to the confluence with the River Thames. It is an immense topic spanning 400 million years of…
The Mole Story 