NWACC EMPACTS NATURE AREA/LIVING LABORATORY EAST/EMPACTS Project

Environmental Geology Fall 08 Chris Cooley, Chris Eiler, Dan Lowe, Sarah Albrecht, John Yeakley, Bernardo Martinez, Andrew Beal

ENVIRONMENTAL GEOLOGYGPS/GIS

and

The NWACC Living LaboratoryTeam Members:

Chris Cooley Dan Lowe Andrew Beal

Sarah AlbrechtChris EilerJohn YeakleyBernardo Martinez

NWACC, EAST/EMPA CTS ProjectC. Dianne Phillips, Instructor, EAST/EMPACTS Facilitator

Introduction

NorthWest Arkansas Community College has a nature area that is currently being restored. Students from Environmental Geology, Plant Biology and Intro to GIS classes, are working together as a learning community to promote the restoration and maintenance of the area as a Learning Laboratory.

Overview The Living Laboratory area is outlined in red and includes a prairie, mima mounds, spring fed pond, post oak forested areas and walking trail.

The NWACC community is working to reclaim, restore and maintain this area for study.

Walking Trail

Post Oak Forest

Mima Mounds

Spring Fed Pond

Prairie

A Learning Community…

Students from Environmental Geology and Plant Biology collected data in the Learning Laboratory area and contributed to a GIS database that was used by the Intro to GIS class.

The Intro to GIS class was able to generate an interactive map of the NWACC Living Laboratory.

The map will serve as a valuable resource for land use planning committees and for the scientific learning community, both at the college and public school levels.

GIS DATABA

SE

Plant Biology

GPSEnviro. Geo.

Intro. GIS

Plant Biology Restore Native Prairie in the Living Laboratory. Provide GPS Points of Areas being worked in. Provide Area Biota. To use the map to monitor native plants that are

being reintroduced as part of the Restoration of the Prairie.

Intro to GIS Generate an interactive map for future use in the NWACC

Living Laboratory observation. Use provided points given by the Plant Biology and

Environmental Geology classes.

Class Goals

Class GoalsEnvironmental Geology

Continue to collect data in the Living Laboratory to assess possible impacts of human interaction in the area.

Collect GPS points throughout the Living Laboratory

Provide a simple soil analysis of the GPS points.

Class of Fall 2008

What did we do?

Take GPS points of specific spots in the NWACC Living Laboratory.

Take Soil samples of those specific spots.

Do a simple analysis on color and content of acquired soil samples.

Collecting Data

We took points based on the South side of the living laboratory. This informationcan be categorized intosubunits.

Pond Mima mounds Planter boxes

core

Adding core locations to GIS map of area

Mima Mound 1 : Central SW

Clay

Loam

1

0 YR3/3

Loam

y Sand (r

oots)

Silty

Clay

Loam

GPS N 36.36142˚ ; W 94.17393 ˚ Elev. 1292

PICTURE BOX INSERT……….

Mima Mound 2 : Central SW

Loam

1

0 YR4/3

Loam

Silty

Clay

Loam

GPS N 36.36174˚ ; W 94.17355 ˚ Elev. 1313

PICTURE BOX INSERT……….

(3) Planter Box Marks/ North

Thre

e Nort

h Mark

s

Loam

consis

tancy

Core S

ample

s lo

cate

d Rig

ht

of Boxe

s

Elevation Range: 301-308

PICTURE BOX INSERT……….

(3) Planter Box Marks/ East

Thre

e East

Mark

s

Sandy Lo

om-S

ilty

Clay

Core S

ample

s lo

cate

d Rig

ht

of Boxe

s

Elevation Range: 308-324

PICTURE BOX INSERT……….

Collecting the soil

Materials and Procedures

The materials used to collect the samples are:, Trowels, Hammers, Tubes, Cellophane, and Sample Bags.

The trowels are used to collect the sample, or to remove some of the debris such as, rocks, leaves, straw, and trash from the surface before collecting the sample.

Procedures Continued I

The tubes are used to bore into the soil to collect the samples, but when the tube hits a rock, the hammer is used to drive the tube all the way into the Ground.

Procedures continued II

The cellophane is used to help the soil preserve its shape as well as preserve the nutrients and some of the moisture.

The bags are used to hold the sample for future use.

Analyzing the soil

Getting our hands dirty

Materials Used to Analyze Soil Soil Classification Chart Small Beaker with Water Munsell Soil Color Chart Our Hands and Senses Agriculture Textural Classification

Chart

Analyzing the Soil

To analyze the soil we used the methods in a “Soil Classification Chart.”

PROCESS: First we placed about two teaspoons of the soil, from

different parts of the sample, top, middle bottom, in our hands and added small amounts of water until it felt like a moist putty.

After this we went through the chart and determined if the soil samples were sand, loamy sand, sandy loam, silty loam, loam, sandy clay, silty clay, or clay.

During the study we used techniques such as squeezing the soil into balls, making ribbons, pinching, rubbing, all while using our senses to determine if the soil was gritty, smooth or both.

What we found…

Area Elevation Range from 1301 feet -1324 feet above

sea level

Soil types obtained Pond area

Silty loam, slight sand Mima Mounds

Range from loam to silty clay loam Around planter boxes

Silty loam, slight sand

Geospatial Data collected

LocationTextural Classification

Color *10YR

NAME ON MAP

elevation *ft

Latitude Longitude

Sample 1 w -94.17393N 36.36142

silty loam/ slight sand 3\3 MIMA 1 1319

Sample 2 w -94.17355N 36.36174 silty loam 4\3 MIMA 2 1305

Sample 3 w -94.17411N 36.36238 loam 3\2 PLANTER BOX A 1308

Sample 4 w -94.17378N 36.36264 clay loam 4\2 PLANTER BOX B 1301

Sample 5 w -94.17329N 36.36275 sandy loam 3\2 PLANTER BOX C 1303

Sample 6 w -94.17282N 36.36303 sandy loam 3\3 PLANTER BOX D 1308

Sample 7 w -94.17236N 36.36276 silty clay 4\2 PLANTERBOX E 1324

Sample 8 w -94.17196N 36.36241 silty clay 4\3 PLANTERBOX F 1317

Sample 9 w -94.17239N 36.36301 silty clay loam 5\3 POND1 1305

Sample 10 w -94.17224N 36.36286 silty loam 4\2 POND2 1305

How Can this information be utilized? In the future, this information can be used to

decide what organisms will flourish in this area.

The learning community can utilize and add to the information for future purposes as well.

Other Materials Used…

Digital Camera Microsoft Excel Microsoft Power Point ArcGIS Arc Map Garmin eTrex Venture© HC, personal navigator

Skills Developed We learned to work as a team.

We learned how to use GPS units and collect geospatial data for map building.

We learned how to be self directed in our learning.

We learned to be organized and to communicate within the framework of a team.

We learned about the global aspects of environmental geology.

We learned interdependence within a group and as a member of a global learning community.

Resources

C. Dianne Phillips, Instructor, EAST/EMPACTS Facilitator Wilma B. Hinterthuer, NWACC Instructor Paul Lowrey, NWACC Instructor Munsell Soil Color Charts. Munsell Color. 2000. Grand

Rapid, MI 49512. Geology and the Environment. 5th ed. Pipkin, Trent,

Hazlett, Bierman. Thomas Brooks/Cole. 2000. Belmont, CA. Garmin eTrex© HC series Owner’s Manual. 2007. Garmin

International, Inc. Olathe, KS 66062. http://soils.usda.gov/technical/classification/orders/alfisols_

map.html http://web.stclair.k12.il.us/splashd/soiltype.htm

Soil Classification Chart Soil Classification booklet Textural classification chart