Erosion Lab Collaborators: Connor Caleb Christian Miranda Abstract: The idea of this lab was to find out

the effects of materials on soil have on erosion. The lab was started with growing grass in a two liter bottle for a few weeks. Then when it was ready two more bottles were filled with soil one with rocks on top and the other just plain soil. Water was poured into each cut out bottle that was at an angle so the water had a way to drain. The time the water took to drain and how much came out was recorded and observations about the water if it had soil in it or not. The soil with grass showed the cleanest results by pouring out very clear water and pouring out quickly with the plain soil as the dirtiest water. Problem: How does grass effect the movement of water and soil erosion in an ecosystem? Hypothesis: If there is grass present then there will be less movement of water and less erosion because the grass with slow down and absorb the water and not allow as much soil to be taken Parts of the Experiment: Control- plain soil Independent Variable- grass/rocks Dependent Variable- water movement and erosion amount Materials: 3 2 liter bottles cut out sides Grass seeds Soil Water 2 beakers Graduated cylinder Timer Rocks Methods: 1. Place soil and grass seed in a single bottle and allow it to grow for a few weeks 2. When the grass is ready, fill up two more bottles with soil and add rocks to the top of one of them. 3. Set the bottles up at an angle so the water can pour out the cap 4. Pour water into the cut out part of the bottles so that it will pour out the cap and have a beaker ready to catch the water 5. Record the time it takes for the water to stop pouring out of the bottle 6. Record how much water came out and make observations on the color and contents of the water

Data:
soil type plain soil rocks grass time(minutes) 1.47.1 0.41.9 0.37.4 water runoff(mL) 76mL 150mL 250mL observations brown color soil in water murky not as dark as plain soil more clear water runoff quickly

Data Analysis: The data demonstrates that the grass prevents soil erosion and makes the water runoff quicker and in higher amounts. Rocks showed the second best runoff prevention but still had some erosion whereas the plain soil had a lot of erosion and even chunks of soil in the water. Conclusion: The original hypothesis made resulted to be partly true. There was almost no erosion on the soil with grass present but it did not absorb the water as previously though much more water poured out with grass than without. This was because the soil with the grass had no space to absorb as much water from the roots of the grass taking up space. This was shown by the teacher Mr. Gunsher. Plant roots also hold the soil in place and prevent it from moving so the grass roots prevented the erosion. 1. Describe the difference in the water collected from each of the 3 bottles. The water on the plain soil was very dirty and had chunks of soil in it. The soil with rocks over the top had some soil erosion so the water was somewhat murky with small particles floating around. The grass prevented almost all erosion and the water came out clear. 2. Using your data to support your answer, after deforestation, what would be most effective: planting grass seed, leaving rotting material behind, or leaving bare soil? Support your answer. Planting grass seed would do the best because it prevents almost all soil erosion whereas the rotting material or bare soil would have erosion. 3. Which setting would allow the greatest chance of water filtration (for cleaning pollutants, etc)? Explain your answer. The grass because it allows much more water to pass through than the other materials would allow as they would absorb some water along with the water runoff. 4. Describe how this lab could be done on a larger scale to test the effects over a longer period of time. Give a complete description. Set strips of a single hill with grass on one strip gravel another strip and plain soil on another. Set up something to collect the runoff water from the strips at the base of each strip. Then record the water observations from each collector of the runoff water after every rain storm. Citation: "Soil Erosion." Soil Erosion. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.