P3 - Physical Fieldwork - River Clwyd

Question 1

What is the aim/title of your physical fieldwork investigation?

Answer 1

To investigate how the bed load of the River Clwyd changes with distance downstream

Question 2

What is the hypothesis of your physical fieldwork investigation?

Answer 2

The bedload becomes smaller and more rounded with distance downstream

Question 3

What was the purpose of your fieldwork enquiry?

Answer 3

To investigate our aim and see whether our hypothesis was correct. Also to see whether it fitted with the theory learned from the Bradshaw model

Question 4

Describe the underlying theory of you fieldwork?

Answer 4

-Bradshaw model (suggests bedload should become smaller and more rounded with distance downstream due to attrition)

Question 5

What factors needed to be considered when selecting a suitable question for your fieldwork?

Answer 5

HAD TO CONSIDER: TIME, EQUIPMENT AND HAS TO BE BASED ON WHAT WE WERE STUDYING FOR OUR GCSE

• needed to know the theory surrounding it
• only had one school day to collect the data, so had to be within one hour away from Chester
• the school had flow meters, callipers and tape measures allowing us to measure bedload size and shape

Question 6

What was site 1 of the fieldwork?

Answer 6

Clocaenog forest (4km from the source)

• rural, forested, steep relief, narrow channel (2.7m), rocky and irregular bedload
• river in its natural state

Question 7

What was site 2 of the fieldwork?

Answer 7

Melin-y-wig (9km from the source)

• hamlet, buildings present, 4m channel, bedload larger and angular
• evidence of human influence on the river

Question 8

What was site 3 of the fieldwork?

Answer 8

Ruthin Park (27km from the source)
-market town, 6m channel, bed load smaller rounder and smoother

Question 9

What are the advantages of the chosen location for your fieldwork?

Answer 9

• River Clwyd was shallow enoughto get in and collect data (low risk of drowning)
• River Clwyd had three survey points which meant there was a long enough section of river to show changes in the size and shape of bedload

Question 10

Justify the risk assessment you undertook in relation to you enquiry:

Answer 10

RISK ASSESSMENT IMPORTANT TO FIND A SUITABLE< ACCESSIBLE AND SAFE RIVER

• picked shallow, slow velocity, not steep gradient areas to reduce the risk of slips, trips and falls (also had ‘buddy’ system so we looked out for each other)
• had a first aid kit, mobile phone, Weil’s disease is a water borne disease so we took hand sanitizer for lunch
• appropriate clothing for warm or wet conditions, to minimise chance of hypothermia and a hat and sun cream to minimise the risk of sunstroke

Question 11

Why was risk assessment important when planning your fieldwork enquiry?

Answer 11

• important to avoid water deeper than knee level, to prevent being knocked over by the river and potential hitting your head
• since we were working in a river important to take hand sanitizer to protect against Weil’s disease

Question 12

Outline one method that you used for the data collection of primary data:

Answer 12

• used a tape measure to measure the width and divided it by 20
• at every twentieth point we randomly selected the first piece of sediment we touched
• we measure the long axis length with callipers and classified the shape using the Power’s index chart

Question 13

Outline the limitations of one method of data collection used in your fieldwork investigation:

Answer 13

• we had to use the Power’s index chart, which is subjective since it’s a visual chart
• people can view one rock as different categories which calls the question of our combined results

Question 14

Outline one method that you used for the data collection of secondary data:

Answer 14

• used a website ‘naturalresources.wales’ that provided us with specific discharge data for the day
• used this data to make a graph and compared it with the primary data we collected

Question 15

What is a primary source?

Answer 15

primary sources are raw data that we collected in the field (such as measuring the long axis of bedload with callipers)

Question 16

What is a secondary source?

Answer 16

secondary sources of data are those which you can use for research before and after the actual fieldwork day (such as the ‘naturalresources.wales’ website)

Question 17

What is qualitative data?

Answer 17

qualitative data involves collecting opinions, perspective, thoughts and feelings (such as we used the Power’s index chart which was subjective)

Question 18

What is quantitative data?

Answer 18

quantitative data is in numerical form, it is objective in nature (such as measuring the pebbles long axis with callipers)

Question 19

Justify how you recorded your data:

Answer 19

The data was recorded in a booklet with a separate page for each site so we didn’t get them mixed up

• 20 rows so we ensured we recorded all the data
• had columns for length and angularity

Question 20

Outline a sampling technique you used to collect data:

Answer 20

systematic sampling (data collected at regular intervals)
-measured the width with a tape measure, divided it by 20 then at every 20th point picked up a pebble 
random sampling 
-actually picking up the pebble

Question 21

Justify one primary data collection method used in relation to the aim(s) of your physical geography enquiry:

Answer 21

hypothesis ‘bedload will become smaller and more rounded with distance downstream’
-callipers were used to measure the long axis, the reason we used callipers is because they gave accurate readings in millimetres, making our data more reliable and results more accurate

Question 22

Justify the use of maps or photographs or field sketches in your physical geography enquiry:

Answer 22

• we used an ordanance survey map to trace the route of the river Clywd from source to mouth
• reason we used OS map we could see which areas were accessible and safe, and we could identify physical and human factors at each site that could affect our results

Question 23

Assess the effectiveness of your data collection methods:

Answer 23

• systematic sampling (avoids bias, ensures good coverage of each river site, data reliable and accurate)
• random sampling (actual pebble selected, however if the pebble was too big we had to pick another, affects the reliability)
• Power’s chart (subjective, affects the reliability)

Question 24

With reference to one technique you chose to present data in your enquiry, justify the choice of this technique:

Answer 24

-to present bedload measurements I used a dispersion graph (allows me to directly compare all the sites results, gives a good indication of the spread, very clear which bedload size dominates due to clustering, allows you to identify anomalous results, can work out mean median and mode from it)

Question 25

Outline one technique of data presentation which you used:

Answer 25

• dispersion graph
• Y axis plotted bedload size in mm
• X axis plotted the site number
• plotted my data from all three sites, any same sizes I plotted them next to each other

Question 26

Assess how effective your data presentation technique(s) were in representing the data you collected in your enquiry:

Answer 26

• dispersion graph (directly compare all three sites, clear visual indication of the spread, easy to see if it supports the Bradshaw model theory, clearly shows anomalies, was quite time consuming)
• pie chart (for bedload shape)

Question 27

Outline one technique you used to analyse your data:

Answer 27

analysed bedload data

-first plotted dispersion graph, then calculated the inter quartile range (upper quartile - lower quartile)

Question 28

Justify the use of one technique used to analyse data in your enquiry:

Answer 28

inter quartile range

• shows the spread of the data but is more accurate than a range or mean as it doesn’t include extremes
• indicates the middle 50%
• smaller IQR means a narrower spread of data

Question 29

Outline how your different data sets were linked:

Answer 29

• bedload size was linked to the roundness of the bedload, larger bedload was generally more angular (less attrition), smaller bedload more rounded (more attrition)
• distance downstream and size of bedload is linked (larger bedload closer to source)

Question 30

To what extent did your fieldwork conclusions match the geographical theory on which your investigation was based:

Outline the conclusion of your fieldwork:

Answer 30

-bedload results did not match as site 2 bedload was larger than site 1 (due to human activity of building a ford), but at site 3 the bedload did show a decrease in size

Question 31

How could you improve your fieldwork enquiry?

Answer 31

• sites all close to the source, greater distance would be more representative
• more sites than 3
• more readings at each site
• compare to an alternative river
• more sophisticated equipment (flow meter didn’t work in shallow water)

Question 32

Suggest further research opportunities arising from the conclusion of your fieldwork:

Answer 32

• another study would be needed with less human influence as the work didn’t completely match our hypothesis
• should try at different times of year when river discharge is different so get a more representative idea