Geography Skills Fieldwork

Geography Skills Fieldwork

Aim and purpose of the fieldwork enquiry:

The overall aim of our enquiry was to investigate downstream changes and human impacts on the River Glaven, Norfolk. We were investigating the link between bedload shape and size and distance from the source along the river. The aim of the river investigation was to see if the River Glaven in Norfolk adheres to the expected typical stream channel and fluvial characteristic as outlined in fluvial models such as the Bradshaw model. We were interested to see that the bedload size became smaller and the shape became more rounded as there were different erosional processes affect the load along the river’s course. The velocity increases as you go downstream because though the gradient decreases, channel roughness decreases because of the large amount of erosion in upper course. Channel depth and width will increase as you go downstream. Pebble size decreases, this has an effect on the velocity.

Geographical theory, concept or idea that formed the basis of your fieldwork investigation

We were investigating the extent to which the River Glaven displayed the theoretical characteristics proposed in the Bradshaw Model. This tells us that as the distance from the source increases, a number of changes should occur. We expect discharge to increase as tributaries, surface run off and groundwater flow affect the channel. We were also interested to see if velocity does indeed increase with distance from source. Though gradient is expected to decrease, this is off-set by the increased channel efficiency as the channels become larger and smoother in the middle and lower courses of the river.

Names of the sites we studied:

1. Oak Farm
2. Lethering Sett
3. Natural Surroundings
4. Meander
5. Glanford Ford

The differences between quantitative and qualitative data

Quantitative- Numerical. Less subjective to nature E.g.: Counting

Qualitative- involves the collection of opinions, perspectives, thoughts and feelings. It is more subjective to nature. E.g.: collection by conversation analysis. 

Advantages and Disadvantages of chosen location