Paper 3 River Holford Flashcards
What is the title of the physical fieldwork?
An investigation to explore the changes in the River Holdford downstream.
Why was it a suitable location to use?
-close to the FSC
-it was only a short journey
-river had footpaths and was safe and accessible
-there was a car park
-previous school’s have studied here
What were the two risks?
Risk 1: Slipping and tripping
-wear sensible footwear, stay on footpaths and don’t run
Risk 2: Drowning
-avoid deep water, stay on footpaths and check weather.
What geographical theory did we use?
The bradshaw model
Explain what the Bradshaw model suggests.
-discharge increases downstream
-greater volume
-greater cross-sectional area of the channel (erosion)
-velocity increases as there is more energy
-less friction as channel widens and deepens
what were the 3 hypotheses?
- discharge increases downstream
- velocity increases downstream
- cross-sectional area increases downstream
What sampling method did we use?
Why?
-stratefied sample
-we planned out where we were stopping so it was stratefied.
What qualitative method did we use?
-used a field sketch
-annotated around it to highlights it’s characteristics
What first quantitative method did we use?
we measured the cross-sectional area
-used a tape measure to measure the width
-used a metre ruler to measure the depth
-used the width and depth to calculate the cross-sectional area
What second quantitaitve method did we use?
we measured the velocity
-used a tape measure to measure the width
-used a flow metre - impellor faced upstream, timed how long it took
-calculated the average for each site based on the 3 velocity readings
What primary data did we collect?
-velocity
-width
-depth
-cross-sectional area
What secondary data did we use?
Geology maps were used to identify the geology of the area beforehand
Google maps was used to identify site selection and safe access points
What data presentation method did we use?
A line graph was used to plot discharge against distance downstream.
avg discharge on y-axis and site number on x axis
-we showed how discharge changed along distance
-a line of best fit was used to highlight any anomalies.
What analysis did we do?
-discharge data was put in a table before added to a line graph and a line of best fit was drawn
-this was looked alongside annotated photos to show a visual representation of the change
-results were combined with other groups to gather a greater sample size- and compared with previous years to see how reliable the results were
What did we use GIS for?
We used GIS to locate our velocity data onto a map, to see how velocity changed across our 5 sites.
What results did we gather?
as we travelled downstream:
-velocity increased
-discharge increased
-cross-sectional area increased
e.g. width increased from 40cm to 2.1m
what was our conclusion?
-as we travel downstream, velocity, discharge and cross-sectional area increase- Bradshaw model
-our methods met the aim of our enquiry- reliable
-we used technical equipment such as a flow metre which made our conclusions accurate
-human error did reduce the accuracy a bit
-there were a few anomalies that the line of best fit showed- however there is still a strong correlation between discharge and distance.
How was our accuracy?
-an issue is that when the river was flowing fast, it was hard to hold the tape measure straight
-this could have impacted the measurements
-also measuring up to the wetter bank was subjective
-velocity readings weren’t always accurate- of the flow wasn’t fast enough etc
How was our reliability?
-finding the wetter bank was subjective
-only took measurements on one day-wind and weather conditions could have impacted results.
-however we did take multiple readings and made averages- minus the anomalies- increasing relaibility.
What was our overall evaluation?
-our conclusions are valid as we used samplong to gain a representative view of the river and to reduce bias.
-measured velocity 3 times and took average
-used same person to identify wetter bank each time
-tape measure was sometimes loose- less reliable
-compared results with other data -increasing accuracy- larger sample size
What improvements could have been made?
-larger sample size- increasing reliability
-we could use diff techniques to measure velocity to increase accuracy
-gone back at different times in the year to assess how seasons affect the flow
-ensured ruler was facing upstream thin end when measuring depth
Practice exam questions- Aims/ location
Explain why this was a suitable title for your fieldwork enquiry?
(2 marks)
-we used straefied sampling method to measure how the river holford changed downstream, we measured the depth, velocity and width to find the cross-sectional area and discharge. our fieldwork supported the bradshaw model
Explain the advantages of the location used.
(2 marks)
-was accessible and safe
-had an accessible car park
-previous schools had used it
-it had footpaths
Explain two reasons why particular aims or questions were developed.
(4 marks)
Our aims were to support the Bradshaw model which shared how the discharge increases downstream. As well as the cross-sectional area, velocity and width and depth increased.
