Tuesday, July 12, 2011

water chemistry upstream: Session I, 2011

momma crayfish







mark teaching water chemistry tests



Water chemistry today was upstream from Woodcock Dam. The area upstream was much more wooded than the site downstream from the dam, and the stream was very shallow with prominent rock beds unlike the downstream site with almost no rock beds. Many of the tests that we completed had very similar or the same results as the tests we took downstream. The averages for tds (total dissolved oxygen) were the same for both upstream and downstream.


little green monster


Much of the other tests followed the same pattern including the temperature, which was only two degrees warmer upstream than downstream. The only big thing was forgetting to do the phosphorus test, which takes at least 10 min to complete. Phosphorus naturally comes from the wearing down of rock, and it is extremly rare to find a lot in a stream. Of course, everyone was sure to dump their waste in the waste bottle, and rinse their containers like test tubes with distilled water before putting them away. Besides the chemistry tests, we also found some interesting larger critters. We caught a crayfish with eggs on its lower abdomen, and a cute little green frog. Later, the results from the water chemistry tests will be important for creating a presentation that will be shown on Friday.




































3 comments:

Tammy said...

The momma crayfish was an awesome discovery! Love all the photos you are sharing.

Anonymous said...

Interesting... so the dam doesn't affect water chemistry very much. Wonder if larger dams would??

MS. BACHY-GVS said...

Great to know you all are having a good time at the camp. Keep going with all the nice activities and enjoy this great opportunity. Regards to the ticos from GVS, Costa Rica¡¡¡