Dynamic Planet B/C

[zyzzyva980]

For L&R or E&V? I do like engaging and creative tests.

[IdahoSciGuy]

For L&R or E&V? I do like engaging and creative tests.

For L&R. It's going to be a nice challenge, but one of my mentors from the Idaho tournaments taught me one thing: Every academic test sounds better in story form! (thats all i'm saying about it. Wait till I post the tests )

[Paradox21]

IdahoSciGuy, you are the best. Tests are very much appreciated.

And water is one of the great changers of the planet. While the changes may not be as sudden as an Earthquake or Volcano, they are sometimes much more profound. Just take a trip to the Grand Canyon if you don't believe me.

[zyzzyva980]

Please, whatever you do, do not do anything Road Scholar-esque. The weirdest one I saw was a toy, falling from the sky, and somehow that related to Road Scholar.

[IdahoSciGuy]

Please, whatever you do, do not do anything Road Scholar-esque. The weirdest one I saw was a toy, falling from the sky, and somehow that related to Road Scholar.

They will be road scholar-esque in that they have story and plot lines. However, as far as topics are concerned, I have more fondness for detective work as a topic, rather than toys falling from the sky. XD

I'm so so so happy.

When I was doing DP this year, my friend gave me a DP binder which I kinda just tossed to the side because it was the wrong topic. Then I was cleaning out my room a couple days ago and I found it and it was a RIvers and Lakes binder! There wasn't a whole lot of information, but that's okay because I can find it myself and there were a lot of tests. It did have the rules in it though which I thought was really helpful. Topics to study include but are not limited to:

Hydrological cycle
Aging of rivers (young, mature, old)
Depositional features including floodplains, levees, deltas, and meanders
Erosional features including rapids, waterfalls, canyons
Topographic map interpretation as related to river features and actions
River velocity including gradient, channel shape, and channel surface
Stream channel patterns including meandering, straight, and braided
Drainage patterns including dendritic, radial, and centripetal
Steam capacity including dissolved load, suspended load, and bedload
Stream classification including perennial and intermittent

Huh. I never thought there was so much to learn about rivers and lakes. However, that's just rivers and lakes, there are, as IdahoSciGuy said, going to be much more to cover if it's going to be freshwater.

Thank you for posting this! I am going to put these in the early tests that I do, as the rules for this years competition will probably not be too far off.

[smartkid222]

The NY state website lists the event as "Dynamic Planet (Earth's Fresh Water)"
What other topics can be tested on besides rivers and likes if this is the topic? Earth's fresh water could include aquafers...anything else?

[AlphaTauri]

Well, the first thing that comes to mind is glaciers. Now, would that be it's own separate topic or would it be lumped in with freshwater? After all, glaciers are basically just huge chunks of frozen freshwater. Other than that, um, springs? waterfalls? rainfall? clouds?

[IdahoSciGuy]

I wouldn't be surprised to see glaciers lumped in with fresh water.

The realm of hydrology is HUGE, so here are some things to think about.

Surface water:
Rivers and Streams
-drainage patterns
-the water cycle
-river and stream ageing/evolution
-fresh water deposition fetures(point bars, oxbow lakes, etc...)
-fresh water erosional features
-identifying ancient river velocity by photography(looking at a photo of an ancient river bed, and being able to give basic descriptions of river velocity. I will post an example on the wiki later.)
-topograhic map identification, drop rate
-base level features
-deltas and estuaries
-river behavior versus elevation(how a river acts at its source compared to its mouth)
-historic floods/droughts and analysis
Groundwater
-aquifer contamination
-groundwater depletion and calculation
-groundwater flow
-permeability factors
-porosity factors
-saltwater intrusion

These are the things i could think of off the top of my head, but ill edit this list once i take a look at my geology textbook again.

[pjgscioisamazing]

I would be surprised if Glaciers was included, as Glaciers was its own Dynamic Planet topic back in 05/06.

[SO4L]

I would be surprised if Glaciers was included, as Glaciers was its own Dynamic Planet topic back in 05/06.

I agree. Glaciers and Aquifers should be left out, they're separate events by themselves.