Erosion questions
1. Rivers cause erosion. Name two other things that cause erosion.
2. Draw a picture of a meander in the river. Label the cut bank and the point bar.
3. Which side does the river move fastest?
4. Which side does erosion take place?
5. Which side does deposition take place?
6. Explain why building a house on a cut bank is not a good idea.
7. If you wanted to stop erosion by planting trees, do you plant them on the cut bank or the point bar?
8. When talking about water erosion, what are three variables that will affect the amount of erosion?
(Think about it—not in reading)
9. What can you do to slow erosion into a river?
10. How do people who canoe and kayak down a river lead to more erosion?
11. Why is erosion bad? What does it do to a river that is bad?
12. Gravel, silt, sand, and clay are soil particles.
a. Of these four, which one only moves by being pushed along the bottom.
b. Which one stays suspended the longest?
c. Write down the order of deposition (which ones get deposited first, second, etc.)
d. Explain why point bars are often sandy.
13. Large boulders (the size of a house) can be moved by water. What time of year do you think this
happens?
14. Why?
15. One of the best river improvements is called a silt trap. One digs a huge hole in the river, and allows
the silt and other small particles to fill it. Then, you take a backhoe and remove it. What creatures
would benefit from such an improvement?
River Systems (stream tables)
Lesson 1: River Geology
Setting up the stream table: place a layer of sand down and then moisten the entire river bed.
1. Define erosion.
2. Slowly pour 60 ml of water into the rain-maker. Observe the formation of a river. Pay very close
attention to where erosion is happening and where deposition (the opposite of erosion) is happening.
Draw a top view of the river channel when you are done.
3. Repeat. Draw the channel when you are done. Label headwaters and mouth.
4. Repeat a third time and draw the channel.
5. Did the channel stay the same the entire time or did it move?
6. Is your channel a straight line or does it have bends?
7. The bends are called meanders. The outside of the bend is called cut banks, while the inside of bend
is called point bars. Label these on your diagrams for number 2, 3, and 4.
8. Then add 30 ml of water and watch the speed of water and the erosion of sand at the bends.
a. Where does water move fastest (cut bank or point bar)?
b. Where does erosion happen (cut bank or point bar)?
c. Where does deposition happen (cut bank or point bar)?
d. Where would the river be deepest (cut bank or point bar)?
9. If you were building a house, would you put it on a cut bank or a point bar? Why?
Lesson 2: Variables that Effect Erosion
Set up stream table according to directions.
1. Slowly pour 60 ml of water into the rain maker and observe. Then, pour 60 ml of water DIRECTLY into
the top of the model quickly (do not use the rain maker). Draw what is left over.
2. How is the shape different from the slow pour?
3. Compare the amount of sand that got moved in the slow example to the “flood” example. Which one
caused more erosion?
4. What time of year do you see the most flooding?
5. Why?
6. What time of year do you see the most erosion?
Reset your stream table to resemble the start. This time, sprinkle 50-100 pieces of gravel on it.
7. Slowly pour 60 ml of water into the rainmaker and observe. Draw the river channel that is left.
8. Repeat and draw.
9. How does the gravel move compared to the sand?
10. What substance is easier to erode?
11. What substance gets carried more?
12. What is the difference between gravel, silt, clay, and sand?
13. List these 4 types of soil in order of “easiest to erode to hardest”.
14. List them in “easiest for a river to carry” to hardest.
15. What time of year can large rocks be carried by the river?
16. Why?
Watershed Island
You are to make an island out of clay that fulfills the following requirements:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
It must have 4 distinct watersheds.
Two of those watersheds must connect (in other words, two rivers must join to become one).
All water must flow off of the island (no lakes)
When you have identified a river, scratch the path of the river in the clay.
No cliffs.
When you are done, put the following on a separate sheet of paper labeled “Watershed Island”
A. Top-view of your island, with watershed boundaries and rivers labeled.
B. List of 3 difficulties you had in making your watersheds.
Stream Divides and River Systems
Procedure:
1. Locate the Mississippi River on the Physical United States map (the one with the labels).
2. Find the Mississippi on the blank river map. Use a colored pencil and trace the Mississippi river upstream
to all of its tributaries.
3. With the same colored pencil, encircle the river outlined in step 2. This circled region should include the
entire Mississippi River and its tributaries. Lightly color the region and label the enclosed area the
Mississippi River System.
4. Repeat steps 1-3 for the Colorado River System, the Columbia River System, and the Rio Grande River
System. Use a different color to outline and shade for each river system.
Materials: Physical United States Map
Blank US River Map
Colored Pencils
When you are finished coloring in the watersheds answer the following questions.
1. a. What river systems flow into the Pacific Ocean?
b. What river systems flow into the Atlantic Ocean?
2. a. The Western Continental divide is an area found in the US where rain falling east of it will eventually
flow into the Atlantic Ocean. Rain falling to the west of it will flow into the Pacific Ocean. Where is the
western continental divide on your map? Label and carefully draw a line through the US.
b. There is another divide found on this map. It separates the Atlantic Ocean from the Gulf of Mexico.
Draw and label the Eastern Divide line.
3. What determined the locations of the western and eastern continental divides?
4. What is the main river near your town?
5. Where does your main river flow?
6. If you lived in Chicago and wanted to spend the summer traveling the Great Lakes; what path would you
take from Chicago to the Atlantic Ocean? Include the names of the Great Lakes, other lakes, rivers, falls, etc…
that would be needed to get to the Atlantic Ocean.
Rivers and Watersheds of Michigan
Procedure: On the Michigan map, locate the rivers and follow them upstream to where they began flowing
(headwaters). You may find that the water source is a lake; however, the river may appear to have no
source. In this case, the water is collected from the surrounding land and city systems; this is called runoff. If
you find this write down the city/county area. If two sources come together then label both sources.
Use a piece of string to lie along the curves of the river to find the approximate length in miles using the key
on the map.
Materials:
Michigan map
string
pencil
colored pencils
Length in miles
Source (headwaters)
Kalamazoo River
Grand River
Muskegon River
Manistee River
Au Sable River
Tittabawasee River
Raisin River
Questions:
1. What river in Michigan is the longest?
2. What rivers on the list above is the closest to where you live?
3. Is there a smaller stream/creek that flows into the river you mentioned in #2?
**Turn over for map**
Flows into (mouth)
4. A watershed is an area of land where all the water will drain into one river. On the map below, encircle the
watersheds found in the Lower Peninsula.
5. Look at the watershed map again. How do you know where the highest elevations are in the Lower
Peninsula?
River Jigsaw
1. If this was your land, what would you build there?
2. How would this affect the river?
After the demonstration, answer the following questions:
3. Which end of the river would you want to be at?
4. Why?
5. What can be done to prevent pollution from entering the river?
6. Why is it difficult to enforce environmental laws on rivers?
7. Look at the following data and answer the questions.
Test site
BOD
2
4 mg/L
4
3 mg/L
6
4mg/L
8
12 mg/L
10
10 mg/L
12
8 mg/L
14
7 mg/L
a. Pretend that all of these sites are pig farms. Where do you think there is illegal pig poo
dumping?
b. Explain why using your evidence.
c. There are two possible sites which could be responsible. Which two?
d. How could you figure it out?
8. Where would you rather swim in the Grand River---before it hits Lansing or after it?
River Food Chain Questions
1. How is the food chain for a river different from a lake?
2. What is FPOM?
3. What is DOM?
4. How are FPOM and DOM included in the food chain?
5. How is the base of the food chain different from every other food chain?
6. Name 2 organisms that live in the main stream and how they have evolved to survive there.
7. How do trees benefit a river ecosystem?
8. How have humans impacted the riparian zone?
9. List three actions you can take to help preserve rivers in your area.
Aquatic Insect Power Point Quiz
A.
B.
C.
The Grand River and Dissolved Oxygen
1. We checked the dissolved oxygen of the Grand River at Burchfield and at Waverly. Write down the
dissolved oxygen levels and temperature of each site.
2. Use the following chart:
dO Level
Effect on Fish
under 3 ppm
All fish die
4.5 ppm
Minimum for diverse fish population
9 ppm and above
Good fish environment
Based on the data, above, is either site dangerous for fish?
3. The amount of dissolved oxygen is not the amount the water is capable of holding. This is a different
measurement, called degree of saturation. In order to find out how saturated the water is with oxygen, you
need to know the temperature. Why is temperature important in determining how much oxygen can be
held by the water?
4. Use the chart supplied to find out the % Saturation of oxygen in our river. Write this down for each river
site.
5. Look at the following information on Oxygen Saturation:
125% Fish Die
80-124% Excellent for fish
60-79% Fish live, but not well.
Below 60% Very poor--usually too warm or too much bacteria.
How does the Grand River rate?
6. How can you get supersaturated water (over 100%)?
7. How can one get more dissolved oxygen into a lake or river?
8. What types of fish do well in low oxygen conditions?
9. Based on your data, is the waste treatment plant making the water worse for fish?
10. So, in general, what does the dissolved oxygen (dO) tell you about a river.
BOD (Biological Oxygen Demand)
1. What does BOD test for?
2. Why do we use the dO test?
3. Why do we test it again after 5 days?
4. Write down the dissolved oxygen tests from the river testing.
5. Perform the dissolved oxygen test on the water from that day (it’s been 5 days).
6. Subtract the new amount from the old to find out how much oxygen was used.
7. The numbers above show the biological oxygen demand (BOD). This tells you how much biodegradable
waste is in the water. Look at the following chart.
BOD
RESULT
1-2 mg/L
Very clean water
3-5 mg/L
Moderately clean
6-9 mg/L
A lot of waste, and many bacteria
10 mg/L or more
Very bad--waste dumping in.
8. Is the water treatment plant messing up the river? Explain why or why not.
9. How would you feel about swimming in the Grand River based on this data?
10. In order to do BOD, we needed to keep the samples in the dark. Why?
Phosphates and Nitrates
2. Perform the phosphate and nitrate tests on your sample. Make sure you follow the directions for
each (they’re different). Write down your results.
3. Write down the results of your classmates.
4. Analyze your data vs the classmates. Are you consistent with their work?
5. Compare the Burchfield site (before the wastewater effluent) to the Waverly road water (after the
treatment plant). Is the wastewater plant affecting the river in nitrates or phosphates?
6. What are nitrates and phosphates to plants?
7. What type of land would cause too much nitrates and phosphates?
8. What would happen if there were too many phosphates and nitrates?
9. What would that do to your river’s food chain?
10. If you were in charge of the environment of the river, explain how you could use our test results
today to narrow down your search for illegal phosphate/nitrate dumping.
Data from Chester Creek
TEST
dO
BOD
Nitrates
Phosphates
Temperature
Aquatic insect
A
8.5 mg/l
7 mg/L
3mg/L
.02 mg/l
10 C
B
9 mg/l
4 mg/l
1 mg/L
.01 mg/l
10 C
C
7.5 mg/l
3 mg/l
24 mg/L
3 mg/l
10 C
D
6 mg/l
3 mg/l
20 mg/L
1 mg/l
14 C
1. a. One of the sites was recently logged, so all of the trees were removed. Which site?
b. Explain two other bad things that will happen because of the removal of trees.
2. Calculate the % Saturation of oxygen at the four sample points.
3. a. What testing point looks dangerously low?
b. Explain why.
4. a. Where do you think there is illegal dumping of sewage from a pig farm?
b. What is your evidence?
5 a. What site is most likely to have lots of plant growth?
b. Explain why.
c. What could have caused this?
6. All of the sites have mayflies, stoneflies, caddisflies, leeches, blackfly larva, midge larva, aquatic
worms, crayfish, sowbugs, dragonfly nymphs, etc. Does this mean that they water is high quality,
medium, or low? Explain why.
7. How do you find BOD?
River Graph Questions
Sturgeon River Aug 18-25
1. What is the height of the Sturgeon on August 22?
2. What is the height in the middle of August 23?
3. Why did it change?
4. Why did it go back down?
5. Where does the water in a river come from?
6. What is a cubic foot/sec (unit of discharge)?
Pigeon River Aug 18-25
7. The Pigeon River is right next to the Sturgeon River. How do you know that from the graphs?
8. How are the two graphs different?
9. Hypothesize the reason for the difference.
10. Estimate the average discharge for the Pigeon between Aug 18 and Aug 23.
Pigeon River June –July
11. What was the discharge of the Pigeon at the beginning of June 23?
12. Then what did the discharge do?
13. Hypothesize a reason why.
14. Hypothesize what would happen to the fish and aquatic insects if this happened.
River Systems (steam tables) Continued…
Lesson 3 Man-made Changes to a River
Set up stream table according to directions.
One Dam Problem After Another
1. Slowly pour 60 ml of water into the rain-maker. Observe the formation of a river. Pay very close
attention to where erosion is happening and where deposition (the opposite of erosion) is happening.
Draw a top view of the river channel when you are done.
2. Make a clay dam with one small hole in the middle of it. Cover the entire plastic with the dam.
Dump 60 ml of water into it (continuously) and observe what happens. Draw what you see.
3. What happened to the soil above the dam?
4. What happened to the soil above the dam?
5. What happened to the water above the dam?
6. What happened to the water below the dam?
7. What would happen to fish that swim upstream to lay eggs?
8. What do you think would happen to the dO of water above the dam?
9. Make a dam again, this time with no hole. Pour in 60 ml of water. Remove the dam. What
happens?
10. Why is dam removal difficult and dangerous for a river?
Control
Replace your sand and “carve” a river channel that looks like this:
x
11. Place a “house” at the X. This is Ms.Tabbert’s dream house. I don’t want it to fall into the river. Using
materials that we’ve used before (either clay or pebbles), create a system that will protect my house.
Pour 60 mL of water into it and draw what happens.
12. Repeat (do a better job). Draw what happens.
13. Repeat, but show what happens when there is a flood. In other words, pour 60 ml directly into the
river headwaters. Describe what happens to the house.
Lesson 4 What can we do?
1. Trees are good for a river in many ways. List 4 things that trees do that are good for a river.
2. The biggest problem with the Grand River is erosion. List 3 negatives of erosion.
3. Develop a comprehensive plan that will limit the erosion on the Grand River. Be prepared to “sell”
your plan to the class.