Water Chemistry and Soil Pit Research Group

Abstract Adam Clark, Tobias Crawford, George Hooker   Our group visited ten different sites and tested the water for five different properties as well as recording their exact location using the GPS. We visited a marsh area, stream area, beaver dam, and bend in the Winooski River. At all of these sites we tested for pH, dissolved oxygen (D.O.), conductivity, temperatures, and phosphates. These properties may all be referred to as abiotic factors to which organisms (biotic) are sensitive. Organisms exhibit a range of tolerance for these abiotic factors. All organisms have their own optimal range where they are most content for each of these factors. We examined these factors to look for variations throughout the upstream area.

Our results for the phosphate test were the most interesting. Phosphates are essential nutrients for plants. We did not statistically analyze our data but the marsh appeared to have a significantly larger amount of phosphates in comparison to the stream and river. The marsh may have the largest amount of phosphates because it has the most aquatic plants growing in it or because phosphates run off into the marsh from the boarding farms and fields. The run-off of phosphates was prevalent in our river results before we took its mean. The phosphate measurement we took near the agricultural land which had phosphates on it thanks to fertilizer was twice as large as the other two measurements.

Adam takes a D.O. reading.

PH being measured in swamp.

Adam measures conductivity near beaver dam.

Within the riparian (river side) forest about 10 to 12 yards from the banks of the stream, we dug a small soil pit about 50 cm. wide whose flat sided banks dropped 70 cm. below the surface. The change between the horizons was virtually unnoticeable. The soil was fairly new because it was darkly color and contained small minerals. These findings made sense because the riparian forest floods frequently.

In comparison the soil pit rising above from the swampy region was much more interesting. This soil pit's horizons were much more noticeable. There was an obvious small layer of topsoil which gave way to a large layer of silt and fine sands that were tinted a very dark grayish brown. These soils were evident until we reached about forty centimeters below the top surface where black streaks (charcoal) started to appear along with a narrow layer of white soil. In this layer we found small pieces of ceramic. The final layer was a reddish brown which is typical of older soil. We concluded that the site was originally at the red soil level and the land was cleared and the slash burned. At a later time the land was filled over with a layer of unoriginal material from an outside source.

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