Physical Fieldwork - Epping Forest Flashcards

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1
Q

What is velocity?

A

The speed of an object in a given direction

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2
Q

What is bedload size?

A

The magnitude of particles in a river that are transported along the bed

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3
Q

What is channel width?

A

The lateral extent of the river meanders

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4
Q

What is channel depth?

A

The distance from the surface of the water to the surface of the river bed

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5
Q

What is ‘downstream’?

A

The direction towards the mouth of the river, in which the current flows

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6
Q

What was the aim of the investigation?

A

To explore how river characteristics change with distance downstream along Debden Brook

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7
Q

What was the justification of the aim?

A

Based on Bradshaw’s Model which predicts the change in river characteristics with distance downstream

Exploration of the truth of these hypotheses and the extent to which we expect each characteristic to change

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8
Q

Where is Debden Brook located?

A

It is in Essex, near Loughton in South East England and 9km away from Central London

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9
Q

Describe Debden Brook

A

It is 4km long and has its confluence with the River Roding with the source of the river being Furze Ground

The river covers 7897 acres and is part of the River Thames drainage basin

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10
Q

Why did we choose this location?`

A

It is close - reducing travel cost and time

Debden Brook is short - easily travel to 3 varying parts of the river in a short amount of time

Safe and accessible - it’s relatively narrow, not too deep and had a workable velocity

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11
Q

What were the subjects of the hypotheses?

A

Velocity

Channel size (width and depth)

Bedload size

Bedload shape

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12
Q

What was the velocity hypotheses and justification?

A

Velocity will increase with distance downstream

Increased channel width, depth and multiple tributaries means more water can travel downstream at a quicker rate

This means there is less contact with the river bed and less energy used to overcome friction

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13
Q

What was the channel width hypotheses and justification?

A

Channel width will increase with distance down stream

Due to lateral erosion which forces particles laterally into the river bank, widening it

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14
Q

What was the channel depth hypotheses and justification?

A

Depth will increase with distance downstream

Because of vertical erosion which forces particles vertically into the river bed, lowering it

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15
Q

What was the bedload shape hypotheses and justification?

A

Particles will become more spherical in shape with distance downstream

The constant erosion (attrition, abrasion, saltation and traction) of the particles will make them more round in shape

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16
Q

What was the bedload size hypotheses and justification?

A

Bedload size will decrease with distance downstream

The repeated erosion will wear away the particles, decreasing their size

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17
Q

What is the teacher risk assessment of drowning?

A

Concern: teacher

Risk: low

Consequence: death or injury

Prevention: ensure river is shallow, students can swim or are supervised and wearing appropriate footwear

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18
Q

What are the factors to consider when preparing a risk assessment?

A

Hazard / event

Concern of who?

Risk level

Consequence

Action to be taken to reduce risk

Action to be taken in event of occurrence

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19
Q

What is the student risk assessment for drowning?

A

Concern: student

Risk: low

Consequence: injury or death

Prevention: listen to instructions (eg: when to get in or out) and wearing appropriate footwear for walking in a river

In case of the event: alert a teacher who will call 999

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20
Q

What is the risk assessment for a crash for travelling to the location?

A

Event: crash

Concern: teacher

Risk: low

Consequence: injury or death

Prevention: choosing a reputable coach company

In case of event: call 999 and find a safe location to stand and wait for help

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21
Q

What is the risk assessment of Weil’s disease?

A

Concern: student

Risk: low

Consequence: sickness

Prevention: avoid drinking river water, cover wounds with blue tape and wear gloves

In case of event: go to the hospital

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22
Q

What is the risk assessment for slips, trips and cuts?

A

Concern: student

Risk: medium

Consequence: injury (cuts)

Prevention: walking slowly, wearing willies to reduce likelihood of cuts and watching where you walk

In case of event: use a first-aid kit to clean up and then apply a plaster

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23
Q

What is the risk assessment for crossing the road?

A

Event: being hit by a car

Concern: teacher

Risk: medium

Consequence: injury or death

Prevention: follow the FSC road crossing protocol

In case of event: call 999

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24
Q

What is the risk assessment for the weather?

A

Concern: student

Risk: medium

Consequence: wet clothes, fever (too cold or too hot)

Prevention: wear sensible clothing and bring spare clothing

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25
Q

What is methodology?

A

How data is collected (ie: data collection)

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26
Q

How was the depth of Debden Brook measured?

A

Tape measure held taut to measure the width of the river

Depth taken at 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 across the width of the river

Depth was measured with a 30 cm rule perpendicular to the surface and noted down in metres

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27
Q

Why was the depth of the river measured this way?

A

To measure the cross-sectional area

Which allowed us too see whether the depth of the river changed with distance downstream

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28
Q

What were the benefits of measuring the river depth this way?

A

Simple method to use

Allows a depth measurement at 3 points (easily spot anomalies and can draw a cross-sectional diagram)

Allows for a comparison of different sites downstream

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29
Q

What were the drawbacks of measuring river depth this way?

A

Human error in measurements could skew results

3-point cross-section is too limited of a data range

Shallow river was difficult to measure

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30
Q

How was the width of the river measured?

A

Tape measure used to measure from river bank to the other river bank

Tape measure was held taut to improve the accuracy and precision of reading

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31
Q

Why was the river width measured this way?

A

To see whether the width of the river changed downstream using accurate results

32
Q

What are the benefits of measuring channel width this way?

A

Allows for clear comparison of different measurements in different sites

Allows accurate data to be collected to make conclusions

33
Q

What are the drawbacks of measuring channel width this way?

A

Human error could skew results

34
Q

How was the velocity of Debden Brook measured?

A

Place the metre rule on the river bank and drop a cork by the start of the ruler

When the cork passes the start of the ruler, start the stopwatch

Stop the stopwatch when the cork reaches the end of the ruler

Calculate the velocity by dividing the distance (1 m) by the time taken

Repeat 2 times and work out an average

35
Q

Why was the velocity measured this way?

A

To see if the velocity of the river changes downstream

36
Q

What are the benefits of measuring the velocity this way?

A

An effective way of seeing whether the velocity increases or decreases

A simple but effective way to calculate velocity

Average allows anomalies to be ignored

37
Q

What are the drawbacks of measuring the velocity this way?

A

Human measurement error due to reaction time

38
Q

How was sediment size measured in Debden Brook?

A

Scoop out some bedload into a plastic pot

Take out any dangers (such as glass or plastic)

Pick out 5 samples randomly

Measure the longest part of each sample with a 30 cm ruler

39
Q

Why was sediment size measured this way?

A

To allow us to see if the sediment size of the river changed downstream

40
Q

What are the benefits of measuring sediment size this way?

A

It is simple and effective

41
Q

What are the drawbacks of measuring sediment size this way?

A

Bias towards samples (if not picked randomly) can skew results

42
Q

How was sediment shape measured in Debden Brook?

A

Using the 5 samples used to measure sediment size, researchers should use their own judgement to compare the roundness, smoothness and sphericity with that of those on the diagram given

43
Q

Why was sediment shape measured this way?

A

To see how the rate of erosion and the shape of sediment changes downstream

44
Q

What are the benefits of measuring sediment shape this way?

A

Quantified so it is easily comparable

Clear scale to compare all stones against (standard comparison)

45
Q

What are the drawbacks of measuring sediment shape like this?

A

Very subjective which could lead to misleading results

46
Q

How was channel depth and width presented?

A

Using cross-profiles showing the cross-sectional area

47
Q

How was data on the velocity of Debden Brook presented?

A

Using proportional arrows for velocity

48
Q

How was sediment size presented?

A

Using a bar chart to show sediment size

49
Q

How was sediment roundness presented?

A

Using a 100% bar graph to show bedload shape

50
Q

How was the relationship between sediment size and roundness shown?

A

Using a scatter graph

51
Q

Why was a cross-profile used to show the channel width and depth of Debden Brook?

A

To show visually and clearly the area that we are investigating

To easily see how channel depth and width changes with distance downstream

To easily compare with the 2 other sites

52
Q

Why were proportional arrows used to show the velocity of Debden Brook?

A

Proportional arrows can be easily compared to clearly see the difference in river velocity in the upper course, middle course and lower course

53
Q

Why were bar charts used to present the change in sediment size?

A

It is a widely-understood method of presenting data

It is most suitable for the non-continuous data we have

54
Q

Why was a 100% bar graph used to show bedload shape / roundness?

A

It is easily comparable which is useful when judging the relative roundness of bedload in the upper, middle and lower course of Debden Brook

55
Q

Why was a scatter graph chosen to highlight the relationship between sediment size and sediment roundness?

A

?

56
Q

What are the benefits of presenting channel width and depth as cross-profiles?

A

They are very clear - not cluttered

Easily comparable

57
Q

What are the benefits of presenting velocity as proportional arrows?

A

Good visual representation of data

Shows spatial difference which is helpful when considering where velocity increases the most

The scale allows for easy comparison

Arrows show movement clearly

58
Q

What are the benefits of using bar charts to show sediment size?

A

It summarises a large dataset in visual form which is easier to analyse

Clarifies trends better than tables do

Can estimate / pinpoint key values at a glance

Bar charts are easily understood due to their widespread use in business and the media - conclusions can be verified and checked by others easily

59
Q

What are the benefits of using a 100% bar graph to show bedload shape?

A

`It is easy to compare the roundness of the sediment and which, on average, appeared more in the different stages of the river

Works well visually

60
Q

What are the benefits of using a scatter graph to highlight the relationship between sediment size and sediment roundness?

A

A correlation can easily be identified as positive, negative, strong and weak

?

61
Q

What are the drawbacks of using a cross-profile to show the change is channel size?

A

Only shows a snapshot at a given time when, in reality, the place depicted can change

Cannot be very accurate due to the limited amount of measurements taken

Not easy to quantify the changes in channel depth and width downstream

62
Q

What are the drawbacks of using proportional arrows to show the change in velocity?

A

The scale needs to be correct so the symbols fit - difficult to draw / present

Too many arrows can be difficult to interpret

Size of the arrow may obscure the location making it difficult to read

63
Q

What are the drawbacks of using bar charts to present a change

A

Re-ordering bars can change the interpretation due to assumptions made at a glance?

Can easily compare adjacent data but not data that are not neighbours

Bar graphs are not good at displaying continuous data

Can easily be manipulated to give a false impression of a data set

Using too many bars can clutter the chart and make it difficult to read

64
Q

What are the drawbacks of using a 100% bar graph to show bedload roundness?

A

Readers do not know the sample size and therefore do not know if the results were taken from a large enough pool to be accurate

Can be easily skewed based on the small sample used

65
Q

What are the drawbacks of using a scatter graph to show the relationship between sediment size and roundness?

A

?

66
Q

What is the analysis of the cross-profile showing the cross-sectional area?

A

Width and depth of the river channel increase as you travel downstream

Shortest width was 1.23 m and the longest was 2.95 m

At site 1 (the uppercourse) the deepest point is in the middle which is expected as vertical erosion is most prominent there

We expected a shallow depth which we did as the deepest point was only 6 cm

67
Q

What is the analysis for proportional arrows for velocity?

A

Velocity increases downstream

The mean velocity in the upper course of Debden Brook 0.07 m/s and it increased significantly in the lower course to 0.26 m/s

There was an anomaly as the mean velocity in the middle course was higher than that of the lower course at 0.31 m/s

This is because we went further down the river for the last site as other people created a make-shift dam so our results are not accurate

Also, speed doesn’t necessarily increase with channel size (other factors such as vegetation and disruption from river bed)

68
Q

What was the analysis for the bar chart which showed the size of sediment?

A

Sediment size does decrease downstream as expected

Upper course had a median sediment size of 5.48 cm on its long axis compared to the lower course median of 2.26 cm (more than half the size)

There are no clear anomalies

But there is a large range if sediment sizes in the upper course (4.58 cm) considering the placement of the stones (some were towards the bottom and thus were vertically eroded more)

69
Q

What was the analysis for the 100% bar graph that shows the shape of bedload?

A

It becomes rounder - agrees with hypotheses

All sediment in the lower course was at maximum roundness (5) but there were anomalies in the upper course as there was a piece of sediment already at maximum roundness (5) and others at 2

Perhaps the subjective method for quantifying this measurement caused the large discrepancies

70
Q

What are the conclusions from the inquiry?

A

Channel size does increase downstream as shown by Bradshaw’s model and our data

Velocity does not increase downstream which goes against Bradshaw’s model, result most likely disrupted by location chosen

Bedload size increases and gets rounder downstream as expected, shown by our data

However, these conclusions may not be justified or accurate because:

  • there was not enough data taken - there may be truth to out anomalies and extreme values could have skewed our results
  • we need to use a bigger river where the trends will be more apparent in spite of anomalies
71
Q

What relationship did the Spearman’s rank between the sediment size and shape show?

A

?

72
Q

What were the strengths of our inquiry?

A

Each course was accessible so we could collect data

The river wasn’t too deep so it was safe

Methods were easily practised in the river without being time-consuming (efficient)

73
Q

What were the weaknesses of our inquiry?

A

Lots of people in the river at one time could have skewed results

Was very hot so water evaporated - our results were not representative of the river normally

Vegetation often prevented access to some parts of the river preventing us from collecting more data

Was a mall river, in larger ones, difference in data in the three courses would’ve been more apparent - our conclusions aren’t really justified as the difference is too small

74
Q

What were the opportunities as a result of our inquiry

A

We are now able to carry out more tests like this to evaluate the truth in theory and hypotheses

We can critically analyse secondary data used to draw conclusions

75
Q

What were the threats to our inquiry?

A

Rain could dramatically change results

Evaporation could occur due to the heat which can alter results