If you are doing a River Sediment study, then you will probably be measuring parameters such as:

Measurement	Equipment	Units	Chart and Graphs
Width	Tape Measure	cm or metres	n/a
Depth	Metre Rule	cm or metres	n/a
Velocity	Flow Meter - time in seconds how long it takes the propeller to travel the total distance of the screw!	m / sec (metres per second)	Convert your time in seconds into the velocity in metres per second using the - Hydro-Prop Calibration Graph
Discharge	You don't measure this - but you can calculate it as long as you have take your width, depth and velocity measurements!	cumecs (cubic metres per second)	Calculation (see Waugh) Q = V x A
Wetted Perimeter	Tape Measure	cm / m
Sediment 1.Substrate Composition 2.Substrate Size 3.Substrate Roundness 4.Suspended Sediment	1.Your own assessment of the % of: cobbles, gravel, sand and silt on the bed of the river within a 50cm x 50cm area 2.Measuring the long axis with a ruler 3.Assessing the 'roundness' of the sediment with Grain Roundness Chart 4.Collecting river water and sediment in jam jars	1.Composition must add up to 100% - e.g. 70% cobbles, 20% gravel, 10% silt 2.Long axis (mm or cm) 3. Power's Scale of Roundness 4. Weight of dried sediment (mg)	Grain Roundness Chart
Aquatic Invertebrates	Kick Net, Tray, Identification Sheet, Biological Indicator Sheet	n/a	Identification Sheet Biological Indicator Sheet
Bank Erosion	15cm (6") nails - buy them from B&Q / Homebase!	cm	n/a
Water Turbidity	Clear plastic bottles - e.g. 50cl volvic / cola bottles	Shake bottles - time in seconds how long it takes for the froth to clear
Water Temperature	Thermometer	oC
Riparian Vegetation	Quadrat	% vegetation cover	Vegetation Identification Sheet
Water pH	Nutrafin pH Test Kit - buy from Shirley Aquatics - should be about pH7 close to neutral	pH	If measuring a small stream/river pH may not give good results
Water conductivity	Conductivity probe - measures the amount of salts present in the water - the higher the reading the greater the level of pollution	u/S	If measuring a small stream/river conductivity readings may not give good results

All of the equipment may be borrowed from the Earth Studies Department - ask your teacher.

You will obviously not be measuring all of these parameters!! But make sure you are measuring values that will give you meaningful correlations. For example, the deeper the water - the greater the dilution factor of pollutants, therefore you might expect there to be more invertebrates present. The correlation would be a positive one e.g. greater water depth = greater numbers of invertebrates present.

Make sure you understand the Geographical Theory behind your investigation - read the text book written by Sue Warn and find out about the Bradshaw Model - can you test this on your stream / river? There is also some good information in Waugh.