Studying rivers - The river that I will be study is the river Goyt in the Peak District.

Have a little read: ... Hydrological cycle is the continuous cycle of water between the land, sea and atmosphere. A River is a very important part of the hydrological cycle; it is a form of surface run-off. For this course work I will be studying rivers. The river that I will be study is the river Goyt in the Peak District. The river Goyt is a tributary of the river Mersey. For this study I will be investigating the discharge of the River Goyt. Discharge is the volume of water flowing though section of a river at a given time. There are many factors that affect discharge such as: Soil permeability: if the soil is not able to absorb water there will be more surface run-off, which increases discharge. Rock type: if the rocks are impermeable then through flow and ground water flow as rainfall will not be able to infiltrate the rock. This creates more surface run-off, which increases discharge. Natural vegetation: if there is more vegetation the precipitation will be intercepted. Land Use: if there is tarmac or concrete then the ground becomes impermeable. Use of river: if water is extracted from the river for domestic and industry uses then there is less water in the river so there is a lower discharge. Drainage density: if there are fewer streams then less water is collected so the discharge decreases. Relief: if there are steeper slopes then the water flows faster thus the velocity increases and so does the discharge. Discharge is measured in Cumecs (cubic meters/ second). My hypothesis is that the discharge of the river increases the further you are down stream. The formula for measuring discharge is, cross-sectional area multiplied by average velocity. The velocity of the river is the speed at which it flows. To measure velocity we use a device called a flow meter. To prove my hypothesis I will measure the discharge of five sites from the source to the mouth of the river Goyt. Methodology I will first visit the Goyt Valley. I will in turn visit each of the five sights: * Goyt River (01277) * Deep Clough (01723) * Berry Clough (013723) * Packhorse Bridge (016729 * Derbyshire Bridge. (018719) Berry Clough and Deep Clough are both tributaries of the river Goyt. Derbyshire Bridge, Packhorse Bridge and Goyt River are sites on the main channel. I will use two tables to record the data. On table one I will measure the length and depth of the river at the five sights. I will do this using a tape measure and a meter ruler. I will measure the depth in 50cm intervals. Measurements The second table will show the velocity readings. I will be using a digital flow meter to measure the velocity. The flow meter works when flowing water makes an impellor rotate. The meter records the number of