Flying into San Francisco, California, for the AGU Fall Meeting from the east coast of the United States, one sees an ever‐changing pattern of rivers below. From straight channels, the rivers take on a meandering pattern, become braided, and form oxbow lakes. Their drainage patterns change from regional directions in response to local structures and tectonic activity This carving of the landscape is the response of alluvial rivers to active tectonics manifested locally by ongoing tectonic uplift, river erosion, and alluvial deposition.