Gravel chub silt and debris. They are more often found in areas with limited macrophytes and larger root aquatic plants, algae and moss. Because of their need of a specialized clean habitats, the gravel chub is especially vulnerable to various forms of pollution, especially from agriculture practices that create erosion and excessive silt. In past sampling surveys the gravel chub had been found as far north in the Upper Iowa River as Le Roy, Minnesota, but because of excessive amounts of sewage, pesticides and sedimentation of rocks and sand, this is no longer the case. The presence of gravel chubs in a
Dilatancy (granular material) Dilatancy (granular material) Dilatancy is the volume change observed in granular materials when they are subjected to shear deformations. This effect was first described scientifically by Osborne Reynolds in 1885/1886 and is also known as Reynolds dilatancy. Unlike most other solid materials, the tendency of a compacted dense granular material is to dilate (expand in volume) as it is sheared. This occurs because the grains in a compacted state are interlocking and therefore do not have the freedom to move around one another. When stressed, a lever motion occurs between neighboring grains, which produces a bulk expansion of the material.