A critical minimum calcium concentration, C Ca 2+ ∼ 1 mM, is required to drive gelation and deposition, and consequently determines the region in which clogging and ablation occurs intermittently. At very low C Ca 2+ (<1 mM), we do not see significant deposition regardless of C Alg , and the flow is unperturbed. For instance, the driving pressure remains unchanged for the duration of an experiment lasting more than 600s at conditions C Ca 2+ = 0.5 mM and C Alg = 1 mg/mL (SI Fig. ). As C Ca 2+ increases, intermittent dynamics appear. The location of the upper limit on C Ca 2+ , i.e. where clogging occurs, depends on the alginate concentration. At high C Alg , a narrow range of C Ca 2+ gives rise to intermittent behavior. As C Alg decreases, the range of C Ca 2+ which gives rise to intermittent behavior increases in size. For example, at C Alg = 1 mg/mL, the channel completely clogs at C Ca 2+ = 50 mM, while at C Alg = 0.02 mg/mL, even C Ca 2+ = 5000 mM does not clog the channel but instead results in intermittent behavior.