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U12B: Watersheds What are they? Why are they important? Topography What watershed do we live in? How does the river change as it travels toward the mouth? How do we test how humans are impacting the watershed?

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Our Watershed

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Watershed The land area from which water (runoff and groundwater), sediment and dissolved materials drain into a common body of water.. http://www.uvm.edu/~inquiryb/webquest/sp09/tghttp://www.uvm.edu /~inquiryb/webquest/sp09/tgasperiasperi We can study sustainability of an ecosystem by testing the watershed

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Divide - The point where two watersheds connect, ridge separating two watersheds (mountain range). Ridge - A line of higher elevation Groundwater - locate it on the map http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dpwes/watersheds/whahttp://www.fairfaxco unty.gov/dpwes/watersheds/whatistis

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Stream- A body of water with a detectable current, confined within a bed and banks. http://www.garrettcasey.com/pictures/0901 2003/StreamRock.html

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Headwaters- The place where a river begins (usually a spring). The original point from which the river flows. http://tomclarkblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/trout-kill-on-sacramento-river.html http://tomclarkblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/trout-kill-on-sacramento-river.html http://tomclarkblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/trouthttp://tomclarkblog.blogs pot.com/2009/06/trout-kill-on-kill-on

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River Mouth- The place where a river ends, emptying into the ocean. http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/wUA_hpHhttp://picasaweb.google.com/lh/phot o/wUA_hpHZFNte5gWNy2qzMQZFNte5gWNy2qzMQ

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Glacier Evidence Glacial Till- Unsorted soil composed of silky gravely sand and clay with cobbles and boulders mixed in (think oatmeal raisin cookie). http://pbisotopes.ess.sunysb.edu/reports/de m_2/till-draping.htm

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Topography- The study of Earths land forms http://www.photius.com/countries/hungary/geographttp://www. photius.com/countries/hungary/geographyhy

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Elevation- The height of the land above some point http://www.yellowmaps.com/map/united- stateselevatihttp://www.yellowmaps.com/map/united-states-elevationon http://www.yellowmaps.com/map/united- stateselevatihttp://www.yellowmaps.com/map/united-states-elevationon

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Contour Line- A line on a map that connects points of equal elevation http://explore.ecb.org/videos/VLC_media?P1=VLC177&REFEREhttp://explore.e cb.org/videos/VLC_media?P1=VLC177&REFERER=OTHERR=OTHER

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Contour interval- The distance in elevation between two contour lines http://academic.brookhttp://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/geology/levesonl yn.cuny.edu/geology/leveson

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Slope- The steepness of the land http://www.therockerbox.com/how_to_use_a_map_5.htm http://geology.isu.edu/geostac/Field_Exercise/wildfirehttp

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Aquifer- A large underground reservoir of water that can give significant water supplies to wells. http://water.usgs.gov/ogw/gwrp/saltwater/fi g5.html

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New Hampshire, 100,000 years ago Glacier - Over 100,00 years ago covered most of North America 1 mile thick. Smoothed Mountains The glacier moved and shaped the mtns Receding - or melting started 30,000 years ago as weather changes occurred. Lake Merrimack - the melt ended approximately 8,000 years ago. This lake extended from Manchester to Plymouth. Rivers - The lake dried up over the next few thousand years leaving the rivers we see today..

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Merrimack Watershed OBSERVE the stream then river as we travel from NH to the Atlantic Ocean in MA

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Headwaters of the Pemigewasset - Merrimack River

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http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-day/mountain-stream-white-mountains.html Low order stream closer to headwaters

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What are of the headwaters found in NH? In the northern mountains Describe the speed of the stream at the headwaters? The headwaters have the fastest speeds

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Concord, NH

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Haverhill, MA

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http://gonewengland.about.com/library/users/ucsquamriverfoliage.htm

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http://www.chantryisland.com/remember.jpeg Higher order stream closer to mouth

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The mouth of the Merrimack in Newburyport, MA which is bordered by Salisbury Beach to the north and Plum Island to the south, is considered one of the most dangerous inlets on the East Coast, if not the country

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What do you notice about the Merrimack as it travels from the headwaters to the mouth? Speed Faster headwaters, slower mouth Shading More shade (cooler) vs. More open (warmer) Turbulence More turbulence (mixing) vs. Less turbulence (mixing) Dissolved Oxygen (DO) More DO vs Less DO

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The Merrimack River is the 2 nd largest provider of drinking water in New England. It serves drinking water to 300,000 people including the city of Nashua and surrounding towns as well as to downstream communities in Massachusetts, including the cities of Methuen, Lowell and Lawrence NH Dept of Environmental Services Everything from car parts to a dishwasher, all pulled from the river in 2009

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How are humans impacting the Merrimack Watershed? How do we do that? Need to perform tests on the water!!! Either by testing for diversity of macroinvertebrates or by performing experiments using physical, biological and chemical tests

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STREAM ORDER Does the Merrimack River differ in size during its path to the Atlantic?

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Stream Orders Ecologists classify flowing water by a system called stream orders The stream order system starts with first order streams When 2 first order streams join, they form a second order stream When 2 second order streams join, they form a third order stream and so on The area of land drained by a stream system is called its watershed!

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What order stream is the Merrimack when it leaves NH? Five

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Low Order Stream (headwaters) Low order Fast speed (2.2m/s) Headwaters (mountains) Cold Cobble/ stone bottom Higher dissolved oxygen (DO) 11ppm Higher total solids Abundant turbulence

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Low Order Stream continued Narrow/shaded Shallow No plants Trout Macroinvertebrates: stoneflies, caddisflies, mayflies, nonswimmers Food chain starts with washed in plant material

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High Order Stream (mouth) High order (5+) Slow speed (0.6 m/s) Lowlands, plains Warm temperatures Sand/mud/silt on bottom Lower DO (5 ppm) Lower total solids Little turbulence

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High Order Stream continued Wide, open, not shaded Deep Submerged and emergent plants and phytoplankton Bass and sunfish Macros: caddisflies, worms, midges; burrowers and swimmers Producers start food chain

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Comparing Two Stream Orders Stream Order CharacteristicFirst Order StreamFifth Order Stream Temperature (cold, warm) Speed (slow, fast) Dissolved Oxygen (low, high) Width (narrow, wide) Shade (full, none) Feature (mouth, headwaters) Location (No. Mtns, So. Lowlands)