"So which is it... are the silts and clays and other fines at the bottoms of erosion cuts???... or do they get washed away and end up in places like river deltas???? Or do you get to have it both ways in the Twilight Zone?"


Keith its simple. When gullies erode into closed basins, as they do here into our prairie potholes, the fines get deposited there and the sands, pebbles, and rocks remain on higher ground. If they erode into creeks or drainageways the fines go further downstream as into rivers. Many of our old hard-bottomed duck sloughs now have several feet of black mud on the bottom.