Recently, I picked up some extra work by assisting a professor with her research. She is studying the effects of acid mine drainage on the local stream systems. This means I get paid to play in creeks.
The first time I went out in the field, we measured how fast the water was moving. We used a flowmeter that sends an ultrasonic current in to the water to take the measurement. This should not be confused with a Flomometer, which measured the number of shot blocks by Patrick Flomo during the course of his basketball career at OU.
Yesterday, we went out again. This time we stirred up substrate to chase bugs into our nets. Then we take the net (really a screen) over to the bank and pull the bugs off and stick them into ethanol. They die and are identified and counted later.
The first site was above the acid mine impacted area, so we found tons of bugs. We do 3 stirrings and each one took about a half hour to pull all the critters off. The next 4 sites, which were below the site of the mine input, we didn't find much. There is a doser at the mine the injects lime into the stream to neutralize it, but there is still much mineral deposits that seem to effect the habitat.
It was a gray day, but warm enough to wear sandals and shorts. A few times we were in water up past my knees. It has rained a lot here this summer, so the water is still high. In fact we had to stop after 4 sites and didn't get to the other 3. Maybe next week, if the rain will ever quit.
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2 comments:
Got a book for the bookworm; after reading your post try Lost Mountain by Eric Reece. We read it in the Appalchian Geograph class at OU and it was very well done. Reese is considered a leader in subjects such as acid mine drainage and mountain top removal. AND if you haven't tried it yet I recommend paperbackswap.com to get all your reading material.
Thanks for the Flomometer reference!!!
-Tweedle
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