River Blog

On our trip to the Ocmulgee River on September 18, 2012, our class measured three different aspects of the  river: the topology of the river, the amount of clams in different spots, and the flow rate of the river. Each aspect was measured to the best of our ability and knowledge. We learned a great deal about the river's different characteristics and the living organisms that inhabit it.

Topology of the River:
The topology of the Ocmulgee River was measured using two poles that were connected by a string. Each pole was marked off every six inches so that one can measure the elevation change between the two poles when the string is level and taunt. While this is a tedious way to measure the topology of a land, it is super effective and accurate.

Counting Clams:
We wanted to see if there was a difference between the number of clams that live in open river versus the number of clams that live in the islands. To calculate the number of clams we used a sieve that had five different levels and each level had a different screen size. The top level had a more coarse screen and each lower screen became more fine. We used shovels to dig into the river bed and then put the dirt into the sieve, sifted the dirt, and then counted the number of clams.

Flow Rate:
To calculate the flow rate of the Ocmulgee River, we first measured off a distance of 350 feet , then placed a tennis ball at the starting point, next we timed how long it took to reach the end point, and finally divided the distance by the amount of time. We measured the flow rate in three different parts of the river to see if the water moved faster in deeper parts or shallow parts. We found out that the deeper the water, the faster it moves.