Whitewell Brook: To what extent does the discharge of the Whitewell Brook agree with theory?

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“To what extent does the discharge of the Whitwell Brook agree with theory?”

Geography Coursework: Whitewell Brook: To what extent does the discharge of the Whitewell Brook agree with theory?

Location of study area.

                     

Here is a detailed view of the drainage basin of the Whitewell Brook. The drainage basin is clearly marked with the thick red line.

                                                     Describing the characteristics of the Whitewell Brook drainage system.

The Whitewell Brook drainage system is in the Pennines. It is a very complex system that flows into the River Irwell and then on into the Manchester Ship canal and then into the river Mersey which meets the Irish Sea at the Mersey Estuary. The land near the source of the river is mainly moor land used by farmers as rough grazing for sheep. This is poor quality and course grass. The source of the Whitewell Brook is on bent hill, this is very flat considering it is on top of a hill. We call this a PLATEAU.  The plateau is about 350m above sea level but the highest tops range from approximately 350m-430m above sea level.  

        

        
                

The Whitwell Brook is roughly 5 miles long.  It is very narrow at the source (see figure 1.5) and takes up most of the valley floor. The side of the valley are V-shaped. Towards the end of the Whitewell Brook the channel gets wider and the river takes up less of the valley floor because it is a lot wider (see figure 1.6). The river flows down approximately 200metres, this is spread evenly, and we know this because there are no clusters of contour line on the course of the Whitewell Brook. There are three major tributaries that flow into the Whitwell Brook, these are called Heb Clough, Bridge Clough water and         .

The Theoretical basis of the study

Rain falls evenly over the drainage basin. The rain water enters the Whitewell Brook by a large amount of tributaries, as mentioned before. Water enters the tributaries in three different ways, through flow, surface flow and underground flow (see diagram 1.7). As each tributary enters the river the discharge of the river is increased.  When a tributary enters the river the catchment area of the whole river increases by the size of the tributaries catchment area. So, as we move downstream there are more and more tributaries joining the river, therefore more and more catchment area flowing into the same river channel, therefore an increase in the velocity and the mass of water carried by the river.  As there are more catchment areas there will be more debris and river load flowing down the same river, this means that there will be more erosion, transportation and deposition. There is a lot more power in the river and with that entire extra load, the stones and boulders in the river will erode the banks and the river floor. Therefore the channel will get deeper and wider.

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The aim of the coursework

The aim of our coursework is the see to what extent  the discharge of the Whitewell Brook agrees with theory.  

The hypothesis we are going to use

The discharge of the Whitewell Brook increases downstream as theory says it should

Methods

Each group had the following equipment:

  • Data sheet to record the measurements and observations gathered during the field trip.
  • A 30 metre long tape measure to record the width of the river
  • Metre ruler to record the depth of the river
  • Some sort ...

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