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Hannah Midles
Mrs. Norris
APES 1st Period
7 November, 2014
Erosion Lab
Collaborators: Megan Redfern, Rachel Werner, Micaela Strickland
Introduction:
In this experiment, small scare effects of deforestation and development on erosion are being
tested. About a month or more ago, we started with a two litter bottle being cut into a boat like
shape filling it with soil and grass seeds and began growing grass. This is representing a highly
vegetated area. We cut out two more boat shape two litter bottles and filled one with soil and
mulch and the other with just soil. We placed the bottles at an angle and poured 200 mL of water
in each and recorded how long it took from the initial pouring of the water to fully traveling
through the ecosystem. We found out that the grass held the soil in place because it took only 21
seconds; 248 mL of water leaked from the bottle and had extremely clear water except for a little
soil. The soil and mulchs water was very dirty with large parts of soil. It took one minute and
only 95mL flowed out.. The plain soils water was the dirtiest with some sediment at the bottom
and top, it took 50 seconds to drain and 102mL of water. This is because unlike the mulch and
grass, there was nothing to hold back the soil.

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Problem:
How does grass effect the movement of water in an ecosystem?
Hypothesis:
If we test the time it takes water to move through three different terrains containing grass and
soil, soil, and mulch and soil then the grass will take the slowest with a time of one minute
because the soil will go through the roots to absorb the water while the grass holds back larger
clumps filtering it which will make it longer to get out of the bottle, also making it the cleanest
out of the three terrains.
Parts of the Experiment:

Control Group: The bottle containing only soil

Experimental Group: The bottles containing soil and mulch and grass

Independent Variable: The contents of soil (what is holding soil in its place, grass or soil
and mulch)

Dependent Variable: Clarity and amount of soil-water is collected, time water takes to
travel through terrain, amount of water at the end of terrain.

Controlled Variable: Size of terrain, amount of water added to soil, incline of bottle, type
of soil

Materials:

3, 2 liter bottles

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Soil

Grass

Mulch

Graduated Cylinders

Procedure:
1. Fill two more empty 2L bottles with soil (half-full). Cover one with a top cover of your
choice (gravel, dirt, leaf litter) and leave the other one alone as a control (just soil).
2.

Line the three bottles up on top of an elevated surface.

3. Place an empty beaker underneath the mouth of each bottle. (We used a rubbermaid
container as the elevated surface and used the lid as a mount to create an angle)
4. Prepare 3 graduated cylinders with 100 mL of water in each.
5. Have a student start a timer and pour the water. When the timer says go, all 3 graduated
cylinders should be poured onto the soil bottles.
6. Record the time, amount, and color of the water discharge in the table below.

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Data:

Type of Ground
Cover

Time of Water
Travel

Amount of Water

Qualitative
Observations

Soil and mulch

1 minute

95 mL

Decent amount
of water, water
a smuggy
brown with
mulch floating
at top

Soil and grass

21 seconds

248 mL

Very clean
crisp water, not
as much water

Plain soil

50 seconds

102 mL

Brown water,
could not see
through

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These are the three terrains tested in our experiment. On the far left is the mulch and soil terrain, the
middle is just soil, and on the end is soil and grass terrain.

This is a picture of all three terrains together after water has been

added to them. The graduated cylinders show the clarity differences

from the different terrains.

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Above shows the clarity of the water

after it has traveled through the

terrains.

This picture shows how clear the

water is when it travels through a
grass terrain.

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Data Analysis:
After the lab was completed, it showed that if soil had no grass or other contents holding the soil
in place, it would take longer for the water to travel, least amount of water would come out at the
end and the water would be dirtier. For example, just the plain soil bottle took 1 minute to travel
through the terrain, 95mL of water was ended up in the beaker and it had the dirtiest water out of
the three bottles. The soil and mulch bottle took 50 seconds with 102 mL and it had cleaner
water than just plain soil with some mulch on top and dirt on better and water was some what
clear. The grass and soil only took 21 seconds with 248 mL of water at the end in the beaker and
had super clear water with just a little of mulch on top of the water. This concluded that the grass
held back the dirt from eroding into the river being poured into the terrain.
Conclusion and Conclusion questions:
1. Describe the difference in the water collected from each of the 3 bottles.
The grass and soil bottle had the clearest water. You could see through the water clearly, with
few pieces of dirt chunks at the top and some sediment on the bottom. The mulch and soil bottle
had a light brown water color to it with some mulch pieces at the top and sediment on the
bottom. The plain soil bottle had dark brown colored water that was not visible to see through.
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.

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The most effective thing to do is plant grass seed because the grass in the experiment held the
soil down and did not allow it to move with the water, which is preventing soil erosion. From the
lab, this is obvious because the water is clearer than the other two bottles without grass.
3. Which setting would allow the greatest chance of water filtration (for cleaning pollutants,
ect)? Explain your answer.
I think the grass and soil would allow the greatest chance of water filtration, because as you
could see from the pictures, the beaker from the grass bottle was the cleaner water which means
the grass held back most of the soil. Grass can also absorb many pollutants from its roots make it
more of a filter.
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.
You would have to find an area next to a body of water, for example, river, lake, or pond. Next
you would have to clear three separate areas on a slope and in one are you would leave alone.
The next are you could put rocks or mulch on top of the soil. The last area, you could have found
a grassy area or plant grass in the designated area. Over a period of a week, you could see how
different weather patterns have effect on the erosion. For example, if it rains you can test how
clear the water is after. You would check the water daily. In this experiment, you can check the
nutrient levels, water clarity, soil erosion levels, and data over time to give you good results.

The hypothesis we created for The Erosion lab was half wrong and half right. Ironically,
grass did not take the most amount of time like we thought it was going to, that was the plain soil

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bottle. Although, it did have the cleanest water like we predicted. One problem with this
experiment was that each bottle had a different amount of soil in it, throwing off how much
erosion occurred. This lab defiantly describes how erosion takes place. Erosion is a growing
problem, especially because of the large amount of deforestation being taken place. Not only
does soil erosion effect just the environment, for example, loss of fertile land, increased pollution
in streams, and the inability of lands to hold water, but it also affects humans as well. The
health of soil is a primary concern to farmers and the global community whose livelihoods
depend on well managed agriculture that starts with the dirt beneath our feet. If farmers crops
are not getting the nutrients it needs to grow food, the demand of food for people will increase,
increasing food prices and death rates. Roots from plants such as grass, trees, flowers, and shrubs
pump organic matter deep into the soil, keeping the soil rich with nutrients. If we lose these
plants, soil erosion will just keep getting worse and affecting our environment more, which is
why deforestation should be limited immediately.

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Works Cited
Gall, Scott, and Jennifer Nelson. "Soil Erosion in the Home Landscape Can Be Prevented with a
Few Easy Steps." The Oregonian. N.p., 4 Mar. 2014. Web. 13 Mar. 2014.
Soil Erosion and Degradation." WorldWildlife.org. World Wildlife Fund, n.d. Web. 05 Nov.
2014.