Hello, My name is Christy Hutcheson and I am an eighth grade student at James W. Parker Middle School. I am also currently in a program called Creek Connections, which is coordinated by the Allegheny College. My classmates and I go out and test three different streams in our area for their chemical water quality parameters. Next we record and study our data. We will also be attending a symposium in March, at which we will be sharing our information at. I found this very interesting. 

One stream we went to for Creek Connections was Parker Run. This is where I did my experiment for PJAS. One of my sources says different rocks have different grains sizes. This mixture of grain sizes is determined by the speed of water, which is determined by the slope. This also determines the distances the sediments are typically transported and the environments where they are deposited. Runoff rain and snowmelt carry sediments into the stream. The removal of vegetation causes erosion and increases the sediment load. The faster the current, the more big sediments that can move. Larger rocks are deposited farther upstream, while finer sediments are carried downstream. This is called the sediment gradient. Coarse rocks need fast water to be moved at all and don’t travel very far from their sources. Medium particles are transported by water and are deposited at coastal areas. Finer sediments are deposited in still water. After the sediments are deposited, they are compacted by the pressure of the sediments above them. Next they are lithified, or solidified. Boulders, cobbles, and pebbles turn into conglomerate, sand is lithified to form sandstone, while silt and clay form mud stone and shale. 

I then wondered if their would be different sized rocks at different slopes in the stream bed. After a little thought, I predicted that larger rocks would be found at a larger slope. 

The first thing I did in my experiment was I went to the stream and found a spot to take the collection. Next I measured the slope with a sight level using a 235 cm measuring pole. I measured two rod lengths upstream.

 This is a diagram of myself looking through the sight level at my new eye level on the measuring pole. When I was standing next to the pole. My eye level was different than it was two rod lengths upstream. This difference was my rise. The measured run was what I measured, and the true run was underground. Next I recorded the slope in a notebook. To calculate the slope I used the formula: Since I was a little worried about measuring the measured run and not the true run, I used the Pythagorean Theorem, which states that A and B are the legs of a right triangle while C is the hypotenuse. To find out C, you take C²=A²+B². In my experiment, the true run was B, the measured run was C, while the height was A. Since I already knew C and A, I wanted to figure out B. To do this, I used this equation. B²=C²-A². Except I needed to find B, not B², so I got this equation: B= (c²-a²)^1/2, or the true run= (measured run² - height²)^1/2. In two of my results, the measured run was 470, while the height was 23. So I formed this equation: B= (4702 - 23)^1/2. My answer was 469.4. Since this answer, the true run, is very close to the measured run, 470, I found it was not needed to measure the true run. 

Next I stepped into the stream and being careful not to look what I was picking up, I picked up the first rock I touched. Then I measured it and classified it into these categories. 

After this I took another step and repeated this process until I tallied 100 rocks. I did this three times at three different locations of the stream. 

These are my results from my first location: 

These are my results from my second location: 

These are my results from my third location: 

This is a graph of all of my data. 

Be sure to note that the second point stands from both my second and third location they were on exactly the same point). 

My results are consistent with my hypothesis. As the slope increased, so did the median rock size. 

In conclusion, it appeared that the larger the slope, the greater the median rock size. I failed to disprove my hypothesis.