Section 1: Gather the following information from field research while in the Phase 3 lab environment. Notice that each site you visit has a distinctly different surface, which could affect runoff. One Inch of Rainfall Shallow water infiltration Deep water infiltration Runoff water Evaporation water Vegetation 25% 25% 10% 40% Mountain 10% 5% 60% 25% Bare soil 20% 15% 35% 40% Section 2: One inch of rainfall deposits 144 cubic inches (0.623 gallons) of water per square foot of surface area. Use the following formula to calculate the amount of water after one inch of rainfall (in gallons) for each section: (0.623) x (square feet of surface area) x (% from lab demo*) = gallons of water *Remember 40% is written as “0.40” in an equation. …show more content…
Use this Phase’s activities and resources to assist you in answering. 1. How does the vegetation surface type affect the amount of runoff? Speculate why this happens. The vegetation surface type affects runoff since it is in contact with the soil. Once the soil absorbs all the water it can hold, the rest undergoes runoff. Through force of gravity, it moves downslope to other areas, carrying soil particles and sediments along. However, more vegetation cover results in less runoff while less cover results in more soil erosion. 2. How does the smooth mountain rock surface type affect the amount of runoff? Speculate why this happens. A smooth mountain rock surface enhances runoff because it is freeway passage without any chance of retaining any sediments. Other rough rock surfaces alternatively hinder runoff by retaining materials thus less runoff. 3. How does the bare soil surface type affect the amount of runoff? Speculate why this
Soil particles such as silt, clay, and sand are known as sediments and are the most significant pollutant to come from forested areas.
5. Although there is very little rainfall in deserts, running water is still the most important process of erosion and deposition in arid environments. Describe and explain at least two special conditions in deserts that tend to increase the likelihood of fluvial erosion whenever it does rain.
In site one there was a high proportion of very unspherical rocks. According to this the hypothesis is right, in site two there is a lot more smother rocks medium sized and in site 3 there are very small pebbles which are very smooth and spherical. The pebbles get smoother and rounder while it goes downstream. Due to us only taking about 10 rocks our result may have been not right as there were some pebbles which were largely over sized. Most of the other load is dissolved by solution such as limestone and chalk
Then above the limestone, the deep buried sand and gravels are overlapped by the sandy gravel till. The upper layer is deposited silt, sand and gravel (Hilts & Mitchell, 2005). They were deposited in the Oak Ridges Moraine during the advance and retreat of the glaciers, and were eroded by the meltwater during these processes. Nowadays, the sand, silt and gravel sediments are covered by organic accumulations (Barnett et al., 1998). Because of the composition of the ORM, the rain water is able to go through the the permeable Newmarket Till to the underground water system (Dyke, 1999). 70%-80% water collected in Newmarket Till goes to the northern and southern river streams from this watershed (Gerber & Howard, 2002). Because the rivers and the lakes are all connected with the underground water system, the pH value of the soil in the ORM, the rivers and the pounds are close to each
A mass curve and double mass curve were created for the Red Deer basin at Drumheller in 1964. Precipitation data was collected from the city of Drumheller, which is approximately 0.6 km from the river measurement. On average the greatest amount of precipitation occurred in May, June, and July, but there was a large spike in precipitation in the month of September. The lowest amount of precipitation occurred in January, February and October. The double mass curve for this basin has a large gradual increase. Runoff for this basin is always greater than precipitation, but there is an area of large run off and storage during the end of the curve. This could be due to the large amount of precipitation that occurred in September, and storage
On average, the temperate deciduous woodland should receive around 750-1500mm of rain per year. If this number is greatly exceeded, then the soil will become saturated and the area will flood, suffocating the plants as they do not have access to sufficient oxygen and carbon dioxide. On the contrary, if there is not enough rainfall then the plants will also die because they do not have access to a plentiful supply of minerals that the water contains such as nitrogen and magnesium.
4. Compare snowpack in a watershed to a dam on a river. How are they alike? How are they different?
Studies have shown that native Hawaiian forest structures that consist of a Koa and O’hia canopy, fern understory, and moss ground cover slow down and break up rain droplets (State of Hawaii 2010). This decreases the impact of rain droplets on the topsoil and allows higher rates of water infiltration and percolation, thus increasing groundwater recharge and minimizing soil erosion, weathering, and runoff (State of Hawaii 2010). The decrease in soil erosion and runoff creates healthier and cleaner aquatic ecosystems, including streams, rivers, estuaries, and oceans, by decreasing siltation and runoff from entering waterways. However, monotypic stands of alien plant species such as strawberry guava have a thick canopy with minimal ground cover, which increases the falling rate, size, and impact of rain droplets on the ground (State of Hawaii 2010). This in turn increases the amount of soil erosion, weathering, and nutrient runoff that enters the waterways and causes non-point source pollution and siltation. The excess nutrients and sediment in the water decreases water quality, increases turbidity, and can cause eutrophication that causes algae blooms. The spike in algae growth causes dissolved oxygen to decrease, which leaves less dissolved oxygen for other aquatic organisms. Besides respiring aquatic organisms, coral is also affected by increased
Impervious surfaces are a problem because they don’t let the water seep through. The water travels over top these surfaces because they are solid. Paved roads, sidewalks, patios, and roofs are all impervious. This is harmful because the storm water builds up speed on impervious surfaces and can cause flooding. They also alter the amount of precipitation
When this occurs, water from the wetland buildup can seep into the ground and be stored as ground for aquifers.
Storm water runoff gets formed by man-made areas such as driveways, parking areas and roofs. All of these types of surfaces are waterproof surfaces, so when they are placed around lakes, they tend to collect and transport precipitation over the land instead of allowing the water to penetrate into the soil. Storm water runoff affects the soil greatly along with all of the wild life and vegetation that needs the soil to live and form. That is the reason that areas of land around the lakes in Michigan have soil with lesser value than other
What dimensions of the tank would I need, to save a certain amount of water?
Where there is soft rock the rate of erosion would be faster, forming sloping bays. Where the rock is hard, erosion will be slower, forming a headland with steep cliffs that jut out into the sea (e.g. Old Harry Rocks, Studland).
Wetland soils are extremely varied. They are found from the tropics to the subarctic. They can be seasonal or year-round, freshwater or saltwater, organic or mineral. The one thing that all of them have in common is that for at least part of the year they are saturated with water. This saturation has a significant impact on the soil's physics, chemistry, and biota. However, over the past century more than half of all the wetlands in the United States has been drained for agriculture and other uses such as construction. When the soils are drained the physics, chemistry, and biota are drastically changed. This paper is an attempt to
Acid rain also soaks into ground and dissolves nutrients from the soil. When the plants call upon these nutrients to grow, the absence kills the vegetation. Over a short period of time plants begin