Back to Fieldwork Homepage

Year 8 River Nene Fieldwork

As part of your unit on Water and the Landscape, four one day visits will be made to the River Nene in Peterborough (4th, 5th, 6th, 7th May 2004). The visit will reinforce classroom activities on the work of rivers and the way they shape our landscape. It includes looking at the main features of a river and its valley and includes practical work measuring the speed of a local stream.

As you will be involved in practical tasks you should wear clothes suitable for a river environment (Wellingtons if you have them and warm clothing). Once all slips and money have been handed in to your teachers, final lists will be put up on the department notice boards telling you on which day your visit will take place.

What activities will I be taking part in on the fieldtrip?

As you have learnt in class, rivers are dynamic environments and as a river flows downstream, the size and shape of the channel changes, becoming wider and deeper. Rivers flow within valleys that they have cut in the landscape. The size and shape of the valley also changes downstream related to changes in the rivers energy. A rivers energy is much greater in the upland areas close to its source, where the river is running down steep gradients and has a high speed of flow. In these areas lots of erosion will be taking place. A river also uses its energy to transport eroded material downstream (the material transported within a river is called its load). The greater the speed of a rivers flow, the more energy it has and the greater the amount of material that can be carried. When a river loses its energy, its is unable to carry its load anymore and the material will be deposited (dropped).

As part of your fieldtrip, you will be visiting Sacrewell Mill Stream which is a small tributary of the River Nene, as well as identifying features of the stream channel you have talked about in class, we will consider how the flow of water affects the channel and look at some of the features of the rivers valley at this point. This will give you the opportunity to actually see many of the features you have learnt about as well as see river processes in action. You will learn a variety of geographical techniques, which will include practical work within the river, measuring speeds of flow and the shape of the channel, and measuring the shape of the valley within which the stream flows.

Measuring channel shape and speed of flow

Measuring the shape of the valley

So make sure you get to join in the fun! Your teacher will give you details during the Spring term.

Back to Fieldwork Homepage

Last modified: 17/04/04 Site Info / Disclaimer / Photographs / Copyright / Contact Details