The Colour Changing Kander River

The Kander River flows in front of the main chalet here at KISC.

The Kander River in Winter

This river is an on-going mystery to our guests since it regularly varies in colour. It changes from blue to brown to green and sometimes even appears colourless.

To explain the colour changes within this river you must follow the river upstream to its source.

The Kander River is sourced from the Kanderfirn glacier. As glaciers migrate they erode the rock beneath pulling fine grained sediment into suspension. This suspended sediment is called natural rock flour.

The Kanderfirn Glacier

The river colour changes depending on the quantity and type of rock flour.

Rivers containing a lot of glacial flour turn the water a milky brown colour, this gets stronger with high precipitation levels.

In conditions where fine silt and clay particles are suspended they absorb all but the blue wavelengths giving the water a strong blue colour.

Often the river appears a turquoise colour when it is full of quartz and feldspar minerals and meeting with larger bodies of water.

If you look out the window at the Kander River today it is a murky brown colour this is due to the ongoing modification work on the river bed. Keep watching KISC ECO BLOG for more information soon.