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Geographical Investigations – Fieldwork

River fieldwork: enquiry questions, methods and secondary data

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 3

Overview

Discharge and how it is calculated from cross-sectional area and velocity, measuring width, depth and velocity with floats and flow meters, quantitative and qualitative methods, change downstream, drainage basins, and flood risk maps and other published data for river fieldwork.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

What do a drainage basin and a flood risk map describe, and which other published data would support a river investigation?

Key term

Which two measurements are combined to work out discharge in the field?

Key term

How is discharge worked out once both measurements have been taken?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What is meant by the discharge of a river?

    Model answer

    It is the volume of water flowing past a point in the channel each second, given in cubic metres per second (m³ s⁻¹).

  2. 2

    Which two measurements are combined to work out discharge in the field?

    Model answer

    The cross-sectional area of the channel and the mean velocity of the water flowing through it.

  3. 3

    How is discharge worked out once both measurements have been taken?

    Model answer

    Multiply the cross-sectional area in m² by the mean velocity in m s⁻¹.

  4. 4

    A channel is 3 m wide with a mean depth of 0.4 m and the water moves at a mean of 0.5 m s⁻¹. What is its discharge?

    Model answer

    The cross-sectional area is 1.2 m², so the discharge is 0.6 m³ s⁻¹.

  5. 5

    How is the cross-sectional area of a channel measured?

    Model answer

    Stretch a tape across the water to get the width, measure the depth at regular intervals along it, then multiply the width by the mean depth.

  6. 6

    How is velocity measured using a float?

    Model answer

    Time a floating object as it travels a measured length of channel, divide the distance by the time, and repeat to take a mean.

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