The Effects of Water Erosion

During science, the students are having fun doing experiments to see how water changes the land when it flows over it. Using sand tables with earth material, they create a water source and observe the water as it flows across the land. Changes happened quickly in our sand tables- with a river channel, then a canyon and a delta. These same changes can take thousands of years on earth! We discovered that the quantity of water and the steepness of slope really increase the amount of erosion and deposition.

Next, students are planning individual experiments. They want to see what happens when people build houses along rivers or try to control a river channel.