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- Fieldwork: investigating rivers or coasts
Fieldwork: investigating rivers or coasts
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In Paper 3 you answer questions about your own physical fieldwork and about unfamiliar fieldwork. You need to know the methods and why they are used.
Rivers: change in a river channel
Quantitative: measure width with a tape, depth with a metre ruler at regular intervals, and velocity using a float timed over a set distance (velocity = distance ÷ time). Then discharge = cross-sectional area × velocity.
Measure sediment size with a ruler and shape using a roundness chart.
Qualitative: annotated field sketches and photographs of landforms.
Secondary data: an Environment Agency flood risk map.
Measure sediment size with a ruler and shape using a roundness chart.
Qualitative: annotated field sketches and photographs of landforms.
Secondary data: an Environment Agency flood risk map.
Coasts: coastal processes and landforms
Quantitative: measure beach profiles with ranging poles, a tape and a clinometer (to measure slope angle); measure sediment size and roundness at regular points up the beach.
Qualitative: annotated field sketches of landforms such as spits, cliffs and groynes.
Secondary data: a geology map, such as the British Geological Survey's Geology of Britain viewer.
Qualitative: annotated field sketches of landforms such as spits, cliffs and groynes.
Secondary data: a geology map, such as the British Geological Survey's Geology of Britain viewer.
People and safety
Think about how river or coastal processes affect people, for example flood risk to homes or cliff erosion threatening roads.
A risk assessment identifies hazards (deep or fast water, slippery rocks, tides, cliff falls) and ways to reduce them, such as working in groups, wearing wellies and checking tide times.
A risk assessment identifies hazards (deep or fast water, slippery rocks, tides, cliff falls) and ways to reduce them, such as working in groups, wearing wellies and checking tide times.
A float travels 10 m in 25 s. Calculate the surface velocity.
- velocity = distance ÷ time = 10 ÷ 25
Answer: 0.4 m/s
Rivers: measure width, depth, velocity (float method) and sediment to calculate discharge; use EA flood maps. Coasts: measure beach profiles with ranging poles and a clinometer and sample sediment; use geology maps. Field sketches give qualitative data. Always complete a risk assessment.
Check you have got it
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