alex stradford : reflection

Over the past week I have learned a lot about soil erosion. I never knew it was this important to society, but many other people are unaware of the effects of this disaster. I have learned that soil erosion can destroy both land and buildings or make land completely useless. I have also learned that keeping sediment out of streams is very important for the plants and animals that live there. Clear water is also very important; no one wants to drink dirty water, which is why the turbidity of drinking water has to be under 55 while trout steams have to be under 10. I especially enjoyed the experiment we did to see which way would produce the cleanest water, and i am proud to say that the group i was in had the cleanest water produced. I will definitely use the information i learned over this week later on in life when I want to buy a  house or anything else.

Some of the vocabulary terms i have learned are:
sediment-material deposited by water; the matter that settles to the bottom of lakes and streams
turbidity-how clear water is
rill-a small brook made by running water
gully-a small valley made by running water
detachment-when a rain drop detaches the soil particle from another one.
transportation-when water carries away a detached soil particle

One of the questions i did not ask was, if a buidlling company has to bring in new soild to help with construction what type of soil do they use and where do they get it?
Another question I had was, how expensive are turbidity meters and where can you buy them?
The last question I had was, what are other ways to get rid of sediment in streams and lakes if you do not have the materials presented in class?


I got this video clip from  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbdpPJ3dbWE