Paper 3 River Holford

Question 1

What is the title of the physical fieldwork?

Answer 1

An investigation to explore the changes in the River Holdford downstream.

Question 2

Why was it a suitable location to use?

Answer 2

-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

Question 3

What were the two risks?

Answer 3

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.

Question 4

What geographical theory did we use?

Answer 4

The bradshaw model

Question 5

Explain what the Bradshaw model suggests.

Answer 5

-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

Question 6

what were the 3 hypotheses?

Answer 6

1. discharge increases downstream
2. velocity increases downstream
3. cross-sectional area increases downstream

Question 7

What sampling method did we use?
Why?

Answer 7

-stratefied sample
-we planned out where we were stopping so it was stratefied.

Question 8

What qualitative method did we use?

Answer 8

-used a field sketch
-annotated around it to highlights it’s characteristics

Question 9

What first quantitative method did we use?

Answer 9

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

Question 10

What second quantitaitve method did we use?

Answer 10

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

Question 11

What primary data did we collect?

Answer 11

-velocity
-width
-depth
-cross-sectional area

Question 12

What secondary data did we use?

Answer 12

Geology maps were used to identify the geology of the area beforehand

Google maps was used to identify site selection and safe access points

Question 13

What data presentation method did we use?

Answer 13

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.

Question 14

What analysis did we do?

Answer 14

-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

Question 15

What did we use GIS for?

Answer 15

We used GIS to locate our velocity data onto a map, to see how velocity changed across our 5 sites.

Question 16

What results did we gather?

Answer 16

as we travelled downstream:
-velocity increased
-discharge increased
-cross-sectional area increased
e.g. width increased from 40cm to 2.1m

Question 17

what was our conclusion?

Answer 17

-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.

Question 18

How was our accuracy?

Answer 18

-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

Question 19

How was our reliability?

Answer 19

-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.

Question 20

What was our overall evaluation?

Answer 20

-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

Question 21

What improvements could have been made?

Answer 21

-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

Question 22

Practice exam questions- Aims/ location

Explain why this was a suitable title for your fieldwork enquiry?
(2 marks)

Answer 22

-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

Question 23

Explain the advantages of the location used.
(2 marks)

Answer 23

-was accessible and safe
-had an accessible car park
-previous schools had used it
-it had footpaths

Question 24

Explain two reasons why particular aims or questions were developed.
(4 marks)

Answer 24

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.

Question 25

Explain why the chosen location was suitable for the collection of data?
(2 marks)

Answer 25

-it was safe and accessible
-had a nearby car park
-nearby facilities
-previous schools had studied their -legal and safe
-it had footpaths
-near the FSC -short distance

Question 26

Geographical theory/ concept:

Explain how this fieldwork enquiry helped your understanding of a geographical concept or theory.
(3 marks)

Answer 26

This enquiry helped my understanding of the Bradshaw model, as our results supported the idea that discharge, depth, width, cross-sectional area and velocity increased downstream.
There is greater erosion downstream, meaning the channel widens, causing a greater cross-sectional area and depth.
As well as the larger volume of water contributes to the discharge and velocity increasing downstream.

Question 27

Assess how helpful a geographical theory or concept were in developing your enquiry.
(9 marks + 3 SPag)