Part 1: Erosion
Objectives
After participating in the program Earth
Science, Part 1, students will be able to:
| · measure and record a volume (of water) |
| · measure and record the mass (of soil) |
| · explain how contouring, cover crops, strip cropping, reforestation, and interseeding are used to control erosion |
| · make graphs comparing different soil treatments and draw conclusions based on experimental data |
| · recognize that erosion is a continuous natural process |
| · report how human activities contribute to (accelerate) erosion processes |
| · list some impacts of erosion on the environment |
Vocabulary
| *erosion | the process by which the earth's surfaces (e.g., rocks and soil) are loosened, dissolved or worn away and transported to another place |
| *runoff | water that flows over the earth's surface |
| *contouring | an erosion control measure that consists of planting of row crops (like corn, soybeans, and tobacco) across the slope as much as possible |
| *sod cover | the planting of grass plants to control erosion |
| *terracing | used in areas with long slopes - the slopes are shortened by installing some sort of ridges across the contours of the field |
| *strip cropping | a
variation of contour farming which involves growing crops in long narrow strips along the contour - row crops such as corn are grown side by side with strips of canopy crops such as soybeans or alfalfa |
| *conservation tillage | any
tillage system which leaves a minimum of 30% of the previous residue on the soil surface |
| *reforestation | when farm land is planted with trees to return it to its original forested condition to control erosion |
| *cover cropping | when a non-cash crop is planted without the intention of harvesting to cover land for a growing season instead of leaving it fallow (when a field or land has been plowed but not sown with seed) -this is usually done during the season that a cash crop is not being grown |
| *interseeding | an erosion control measure which entails sowing a cover crop into a standing vegetable crop |
Materials
(For each group)
· erosion tray
(prepared shoe box)
· container for
catching runoff water
· 2" x 4"
wood long enough to support one end of erosion tray
· coffee filter
or filter paper
· rubber band
· plastic container
for separating runoff from sediment
· balance
· graduated cylinder
· potting soil
· watering cans
(or other bottles or containers)
· water
· 2 stop watches
(For specific groups)
· "sod"
(indoor/outdoor carpet, carpet remnants, terry cloth, etc.)
· ruler (terracing
group)
(For each student)
· rubber gloves
for handling soil (optional)
Total Activity Time: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
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Disclaimer: These activities were adapted from the website http://btc.montana.edu/nten/trc/eslab_text.html. Other activities can be found on this site as well.
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PDF Format |
Word
Format
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This
work was supported by the Center on Polymer Interfaces and Macromolecular
Assemblies (CPIMA)
as part of the NSF Materials Science and Engineering Center program under
Grant DMR 9808677
Copyright 1996 - 2003, Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved.