1st fieldwork trip

Question 1

what is the hypothesis??

Answer 1

as velocity increases across a channel, erosion increases across the channel on the river.

Question 2

why this location?

Answer 2

it was close to be able to go there and collect enough data in a day. river is low risk. there is a coach parking so we didn’t have to walk far.

Question 3

person A stands one side of the river holding the tape and person B holds the tape measure on the other side. person C uses a meter stick and records the depth every metre along the tape measure =

Answer 3

Method 1 - river depth
sampling method - systematic, 10 times at each site

Question 4

strengths of measuring river depth =

Answer 4

• easy to conduct.
• simple to record the measurements.
• water shallow enough to carry out measurements safely.

Question 5

weaknesses of measuring river depth =

Answer 5

• big rocks prevents metre stick touching river bed.
• raking accurate measurements across river channel sometimes hard if tape not pulled taught.

Question 6

aim for measuring the river depths =

Answer 6

to investigate if erosion is occurring on the river bed.

Question 7

10 rocks from the river to be picked up and measured with a ruler =

Answer 7

Method 2 - sediment size.
sampling method - systematic, 10 each site.

Question 8

strengths of measuring the sediment size =

Answer 8

• cover the whole river channel rules out bias.
• easy method to measure rocks.

Question 9

weaknesses of measuring the sediment size =

Answer 9

• not accurate.
• sometimes rocks cant be picked up.
• sometimes might pick up small rocks only making sample bias.

Question 10

aim for measuring the sediment size =

Answer 10

to investigate the effects erosion on the sediment size.

Question 11

using a float students record how long the float takes to travel 1m =

Answer 11

Method 3 - velocity
sampling method - systematic, 10 at each side.

Question 12

strengths of measuring the velocity =

Answer 12

• simple.
• covers all the sides of the river to create an average and repeated measurements.

Question 13

weaknesses of measuring the velocity =

Answer 13

• float can get stuck.
• wind can affect the float.
• human error with time.

Question 14

aim for measuring the velocity =

Answer 14

to investigate the velocity of the river to compare with the erosional data.

Question 15

risk factors =

Answer 15

injury - students could trip = first aid kit with teachers and students should wear suitable footwear.
drowning - students could slip and drown = only go in if supervised and not too deep.
weather - wet weather (slippery ground), hot weather (leads to dehydration) = lots of water and sun cream, appropriate clothes and footwear.

Question 16

Evaluation = time of year -

Answer 16

river was lower than expected so the results are not accurate. going multiple times over the year would’ve gave us more accurate data.

Question 17

Evaluation = lack of equipment -

Answer 17

a flow meter would’ve provided more accurate data.

Question 18

strengths of using bar chart to present the river depths =

Answer 18

very clearly shows the depth of the river at each side. shows discrete data.

Question 19

weaknesses of using bar chart to present the river depths =

Answer 19

needs to be compared with velocity to prove / disprove the hypothesis.

Question 20

strengths of using a scatter diagram to present the river depths =

Answer 20

easy to see clear positive correlation between the velocity and river depth. easy to anomalies.

Question 21

weaknesses of using a scatter diagram to present the river depths =

Answer 21

doesn’t consider human errors could be responsible for anomalies.

Question 22

positive correlation between the velocity and the river depths -

Answer 22

suggest higher velocity causes more erosion which proves the hypthesis.