Name ________________

Stream Table Data Sheet

Background

Every year, insurance agencies and governments spend millions of dollars helping people

whose homes and property have been damaged by floods. People continue to live on flood

plains because they provide wonderful farmland, good commerce, and beautiful places to

live. Some places along the flood plain might be safer than others. In this experiment, you

will determine which part of a meander is safer to live on in normal conditions and which

side is safer in a flood. Classroom Activity (In groups of 3-4)

1. Sketch below your blueprint for the stream table watershed: Make sure that your

river meanders and that you place two towns on the inside and outside of your

meander, also include tributaries to the main river

2. Set up your stream table:

-Place 2 to 3 inches of sand in the table.

-Sand should slope upwards toward the water source and ends in a lake towards the

bottom.

-Create a meandering river by drawing an S in the sand two fingers wide and about a

one inch deep.

-Use materials dredged out of the river to create levees along the sides of the river.

-Place 4-6 houses on each side of the meander, based on your blueprint above.

3. Run water into the table at a low rate (there should be water constantly flowing in

the river channel, but it should not be gushing). Start your stopwatch at the same

time.

4. Note on your blueprint in a different color where you see erosion (sediment being

carried away from the riverbanks) and areas of deposition (where sediment is put

down again).

5. Time how long it takes for one of the houses to fall into the river. Note which town it

was and how long it took. If no house falls in after 2 minutes, stop the experiment

and note that nothing happened to the houses.

Flood Experiment

1. Repeat steps 1-5, but this time, increase the water velocity to represent a river at

high water levels.

2. Clean up your station and answer the following questions.

Questions:

• Under normal river conditions, did erosion occur on the inside or on the outside of the

levee. Under these conditions, where would you want to build your house?

• When you increased the volume of water, did it change the pattern of erosion and

deposition?

• When the river floods, what happened to the meander? If it got completely abandoned,

label it an oxbow lake on your map.

• In a flood, what might happen to people living on the outside of a meander? On the

inside?

• What safety precautions might you suggest for people living close to rivers?

Name _________________________

_________________________

_________________________

In this activity you will be learning about the Columbia River and how it has been transformed.

1. Go to the following website:

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/earthpulse/columbia/index_flash.html

2. Observe on the map how large the Columbia watershed is:

a. What states and provinces (Canada) are part of the watershed?

_______________________________________________________________________

3. Click on the “Full Version” and begin clicking on the icons to find answers to the questions

below.

Columbia River Virtual Tour Questions:

1. Describe the life cycle of a typical Pacific Salmon?

2. List three obstacles that Pacific Salmon face due to humans?

a.

b.

c.

3. How many salmon ply the Columbia River today, how many salmon did in the 1800’s?

4. What three species of fish flourish due to the dams?

5. List three reasons why these species are more successful?

a.

b.

c.

6. What species of bird has flourished due to the dams, how does this bird not help the

Pacific Salmon?

7. Describe what fishing was like in the 1800’s, how is it different now, why?

8. The Columbia River’s largest dam Grand Coulee irrigates how many acres of farmland,

how?

9. The once free-flowing Columbia is now largely a series of reservoirs due to water

control. List three pros of controlling water flow on the Columbia:

Pros:

a.

b.

c.

Cons:

a.

b.

c.

d.

10. With water levels tamed by damming, barges can navigate far upstream, list three pros

and 1 con:

Pros:

a.

b.

c.

Con

a.

11. As water surges through the massive turbines of a Columbia River dam, electricity is

created and salmon often are injured, list three pros and 4 cons to this issue:

Pros:

a.

b.

c.

Cons:

a.

b.

c.

d.

Name ________________________ Grade on Karst Topography ____/15 Part 1 Interactive Karst Topography Please go to the following link: http://www.watersheds.org/earth/karstmovie.htm labeled “Your Watershed” and click on “Karst Features.” Please complete the following statements .

1. _________________- a point where water comes out of an underground shaft or tunnel through a crack in the rock onto the surface or into a river.

2. ________________- a nonporous rock layer upon which the saturated zone lies

3. ________________- a cave that has no standing or flowing water

4. ________________- a long narrow, vertical passage, going up and down or sloped through rock,

often found at the bottom of a sinkhole.

5. ________________- the level at which the ground is saturated with water

6. ________________- this sedimentary rock dissolves underground to form porous karst structures such as caves

7. ________________________________- a stream that disappears underground sometimes resurfacing many miles away

8. ________________- a long, narrow, horizontal passage through rock or other solid material

9. ________________- a cave with water seeping or flowing into it, creating a stream or pool

10. ________________- a cave that has no standing water in it

11. ________________- a place where part of a cave’s roof has collapse, creating a deep basin where no above ground outlet for water

Part II Go to Mr. Walsh’s webpage and go to the “Karst Topography.pdf” link to answer the following

questions.

1. In ____________________ areas, with thick massive limestones, a remarkable and distinctive landscape of jagged hills and narrow gorges completely dominates the landscape.

2. What type of karst topography is the most common? ______________________

3. What is the definition of a cave?

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

4. What is the exploration of caves called? ___________________________

5. According to this reading, what state has the largest amount of caves? ____________ How many? ______________

6. What are the group of organisms that cannot survive outside of a cave? _________________

7. What causes wind in a cave? ___________________________________________________

8. Why are bats important trogoloxenes? ________________________________________

Science Movie Worksheets – http://www.NewYorkScienceTeacher.com/movies 1

Name: _____________________________________________ Period: ________________Planet Earth: Caves (47 minutes; 2007)

1. The movie opens with people jumping into “The cave of _________________” in Mexico.

2. _______The cave shaft shown is the deepest in the word. At over 400 meters it can easily hold (circle the largest possible choice.)

A. The Sphinx B. Statue of Liberty C. Empire State Building D. Space Needle

3. The New Zealand Cave Glow Worm has two adaptations that it uses to capture food. What are these two adaptations?

_____________________________________________________________________

4. Most of the world’s caves are made from this kind of rock. ______________________. This rock covers nearly _____________________% of the Earth’s Surface.

5. Limestone is made from minerals that come from marine ______________ and corals.

6. What is the force that carves out underground caves from limestone?

_____________________________________________________________________

7. _______ Deer Cave in Borneo hosts the largest underground river passage in the world. So large that this could easily fly through it. (circle the largest possible choice.)

A. an Eagle B. The Space Shuttle C. a bat D. Jumbo jet

8. _______ It is estimated that ___ bats live in Deer Cave. A. 3 thousand B. 3 million C. 3 billion D. 3 quintillion

9. The food web inside of Deer Cave is not directly powered by the sun. Draw a food web for Deer Cave that includes cockroaches, bat droppings, bats, cave centipedes & crabs.

Science Movie Worksheets – http://www.NewYorkScienceTeacher.com/movies 2

10. If bats were removed from Deer Cave, what would be the resulting impact on the other species that spend their entire life inside of the cave?_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

11.Add Peregrine Falcons & Bat Hawks to the food web you created in question #9.

12. Cave Swiftlets and Bats both use ________________ location to find their way in the dark.

13.________ People harvest Cave Swiftlet nests to make this delicacy: A. Birds nest omelets B. Birds nest chocolate C. Birds nest soup

14.Deposits of the mineral __________________ form stalactites that hang from cave ceilings.

15.Mineral deposits on the floor of caves produces formations called ____________________.

16. If you were cave diving, would you attempt to go through one of the “Squeezes” as shown in the film? ______________ because __________________________________________

17.Haloclines are a meeting of _____________________ and ___________________ water.

18.How do snakes detect the location of bats inside of a dark cave?_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

19._______ Cave Angle Fish, Texas Cave Salamanders and Belizean White Crabs all have two things in common. They have all lost:

A. pigment and fins B. ears and eyesC. eyes and pigment D. fins and ears.

20.Record the purpose of the two physical adaptations labeled in the picture below of a Texas Cave Salamander.

21.What are “snottites?”________________________________________________________

22. In “the most beautiful of all caves” there are wonderful crystal formations. These crystals are made from the mineral ___________________________.

23._______ Caves can be formed fromA. running water B. ocean waves C. sulfuric acid D. all of the above

24.List one unique fact about the Chandelier Ballroom.____________________________________________________________________________

Gills: ______________________________________________________________________Sensitive Skin: _____________

__________________________________________________

1

Rivers and Groundwater Student Notes, Chapters 13, 14 Name ___________________

Date __________

Vocabulary: On a separate sheet of paper, please number and identify the following terms.

(terms with a *, please illustrate) (26) Delta Divide Floodplain* Water Table

Gradient* Headward Erosion Headwater* Meander*

Levee* Oxbow Lake* Rejuventated Stream Load

Stream Piracy* Tributary* Water Gap Wind Gap

Aquifer Artesian well* Cone of Depression* Geyser

Impermeable Permeabilty* Porosity* Sinkhole

Stalactite* Stalagmite* Chapter 13 Water and Erosion

A. The Water Cycle

1. What are the four ways the continents lose water?

-______________-liquid changes to water vapor

-________________- plants give off water vapor into the atmosphere

-________________- rivers and streams

-Soaks to become groundwater

2.Why are lakes usually short lived?

-Too much of their water drains away or evaporates, an outflowing stream can drain a lake,

climate change, sediments may fill in lake basin and organic deposits may accumulate, creating a

__________________________

3.What are the two approaches to ensure future fresh water is available, which is better?

-_________________________ and desalination (not profitable as of now), so conservation is

best approach right now

B.River Systems

1.What are the different parts of a river system?

-___________________- streams that flow into the main river

-__________________- a river system is identified as water from all of the tributaries that empty

into the river, drainage basin

-_________________- borders of a watershed that are usually ridges or elevated regions that

separate watersheds

2.What is headward erosion?

-Process of lengthening and branching of a stream carrying away sediments and gradually

extending the area of the drainage basin

3.How does stream piracy work?

-The rate of erosion in one stream may be higher than another stream from a different watershed,

the captured stream drains into the other river system

4.What are the three types of stream load, how are they different

-______________________- consist of fine sand and silt, the velocity of the stream keeps them

suspended and don’t sink to the stream bed (muddy water after a storm)

-_____________________- matter that is dissolved in water and transported downstream

-________________- material on the bottom that moves by rolling, sliding and saltation or short

jumps

5.How does discharge and gradient affect the way a stream erodes their channels?

-_________________ is the steepness of its slope, the higher the gradient the faster the stream

will flow and carry more sediments eroding a channel rapidly

-__________________ is the volume of water moved by a stream in a given time, the more

water flowing down a stream the higher the erosion rate

2

6.What makes a water gap different than a wind gap?

-When land is uplifted and elevated, a deep notch is formed where the stream has eroded its

channel through raised mountains, these notches are ______________________

-A ___________________ forms when land is uplifted faster than it erodes causing the stream to

abandon the water gap and become a wind gap

7. What are some features of youthful rivers?

-__________________________, waterfalls, rapids, few tributaries

8. What are some features of a mature river?

-Well established tributaries, can carry a larger amount of water, channels aren’t as deep as a

youthful, ______________________________________

-A series of __________________________, meanders, form across the valley floor, sometimes

forming an oxbow lake

9.What are some features of old rivers?

-Its gradient and velocity have decreased, no longer erodes the land, less tributaries because they

have combined to form a _______________________

10.What causes a river to be rejuvenated?

-The gradient has become steeper due to movement of the crust, creating step-like terraces

C. Stream Deposition

1.What is a river delta, what determines its shape?

-A _____________________________ at the mouth of a stream, shaped by waves, tides,

offshore depths and sediment load

2.What usually develops in dry climates due to stream deposition?

-_______________________ are fan-shaped due to temporary streams that dry up

3. How does an alluvial fan differ from a delta?

-Alluvial fans (dry) and leave behind sediments which are coarse sand and gravel while delta

(always wet) sediments are made up ____________, an alluvial fan has a slope while a delta is

relatively flat

4.What is a floodplain, why do people live on them?

-Part of the ____________________ that tends to fill up with water during a flood

-During a flood, sediments make the soil on a floodplain more _________________

5.How are natural levees produced?

-The accumulation of ___________________ is deposited along the banks which are gradually

raised

6.What are flood control methods?

-__________________________ prevents excess runoff during periods of heavy rainfall

-______________________ prevents floods but also serves as a source of crop irrigation and

hydroelectric energy

-Building ________________________, they have to be periodically raised due to deposition

-A permanent ____________________ or floodway can prevent the main stream from

overflowing

Chapter 14 Groundwater and Erosion

1. Water Beneath the Surface

-________________- underground water that fills almost all pores in a rock/sediment from the

seeping of rainwater

-_______________- large amounts of water can flow and be stored in a body of rock

-Some aquifers are more porous than others- ______________ and sandstone

-______________- amount of water a rock can hold, affected by size of particles and how

closely packed sediments

-_________________- indicates how freely water passes through the open spaces in it, a rock

can have high porosity but low permeability (clay has high porosity but poor permeability)

3

-Zone of ___________________-layer of ground where all the pores are filled with water; the

upper surface of the zone is called the water table

-Zone of _____________________- zone above the water table; some water found here due to

capillary fringe in soil

2. Wells and Springs

-Well- hold dug below water table that fills with groundwater

-____________- natural flow of groundwater to the Earth’s surface

-_________________________- where the water table is lowered due to pumping water out via

an ordinary well

-Artesian well- gets its water from hundreds of kilometers away, digs below cap rock (top layer

of impermeable rock) into deeper aquifers causing water to push up from intense pressure

-____________________- often source of water in a desert oasis

-Hot spring- groundwater exposed to pockets of molten rock above 37 C

-_______________- hot springs that periodically erupt; water under pressure that boils and

released to the surface

3. Groundwater and Chemical Weathering

-______________________- water that contains large amounts of dissolved minerals (ions of

calcium, magnesium and iron)

-Soft water- few dissolved minerals

-______________________ is formed due to CO2 + water- chemically weathers rocks

-Caverns- rocks rich in calcite (limestone) chemically weathers producing caverns (large cave)

-__________________- during dry periods, the water table is low and caverns are not

completely filled with water, lack of support causes a collapse into a circular pattern

-Stalactites/Stalagmites- calcite solidifies on the ceiling of a cavern forming a cone shaped

deposit- ________________; drops of water fall on the cavern floor, deposited can form cone

upward- ________________

-Natural bridges- when the roof of two cavern collapses the uncollapsed rock between can create

a natural bridge or when a surface river enter a crack in a rock eventually creating a hole- natural

bridge above

-___________________- regions were chemical weathering clearing visible at the surface

Name _______________________

Go to the website: http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/rt

Go to USGS 01465500 Neshaminy Creek near Langhorne, PA and answer the questions

below. Make sure to use proper units of measurements.

1. At what point did the Neshaminy Creek reach its highest level in the past week?

______________________

2. What height did the Neshaminy reach at its highest? ______________________

3. What does the height of the Neshaminy need to be to be considered flood stage?

______________

4. What is the highest cubic discharge this week? ___________________

5. What is the current flow in cubic discharge? _________________

Click on data: Peak Stream flow

6. When was the peak stream flow in the past 20 years, (approximately what year)?

7. What was the peak stream flow in cubic feet per second? _______________________

Now look up: Monthly stream flow data (Summary of add. Data/peak streamflow, Click

on this table)

8. Find the exact month and year when this occurred, when was it? What event do you

think caused this? ___________________________, _____________________________

9. Type in this date and month in a search engine including Neshaminy Creek and list the

event that caused such a high stream flow: ______________________________

10. How many times greater was this event than the highest rainfall of this current week

(show work)?

Name______________________________

NOVA: Flood

1. What is a watershed?

2. How can seasonal floods be beneficial?

3. What are some of the tactics the Army Corps of Engineers uses when designing

levees?

5.How many states were affected in the Great Flood of 1993?

6.How was Valmeyer, Illinois affected?

7.What did people find in their homes when they were able to return?

8.How did the village of Valmeyer solve its problem?

9.What is FEMA?

10.How can you prepare for a flood?