New River Case Study

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The New River has experienced numerous disturbances within its watershed including those associated with agriculture, silviculture, urbanization, mining, damming, and transportation. Many of these disturbances are clearly evident in the soils. Railroads built in the 1880s on either side of the river are still in use today. The area has also been logged many times, affecting what species are found in the area. Damming of the river leads to sudden changes in the levels of the river which is why many areas do not allow parking and have flash flood warning signs. Anthropogenic disturbances include Radford Arsenal who was tagged by the Environmental Protection Agency recently for releasing chemicals in the air by means of burning. This is harmful …show more content…
The reasoning that there were rapids and the way they were formed is due to the different strata of rock with some being more resistant to erosion. The soils were very sandy with lots of deposition. This is due to the New River being a higher energy river. There was coal dust throughout many of the soil profiles, evidence of the mining that has taken place in the area and the transportation used to move it (trains). There were finer pieces of coal in the area that we augered, but we theorized that slower parts of the river may contain larger pieces due to a lower energy flow. There was very little O horizons observed, with the horizons being OI with a very thin leaf litter. Group #2’s soil was an OI and As. It was a sandy loam texture that when made into a ball did not shatter. The next group when formed into a ball, shattered, confirming it was a loamy sand. The soil picked up a finer sand texture material as it deepened with a few river rocks thrown in. Gleyed horizons were observed. Group 2 most likely hit the permanent water table. Another soil profile was a thin A and series of C (C1, C2, C3, C4, CG, CG2), the AC sequence being an entisol. The maps listed the area as being fluvaquent, framed by flowing …show more content…
The vegetation met the requirements in certain places and the debris lines in terms of flooding was high. The sediments could be a lot worse if there was no riparian forest buffer. Disturbances are important to mitigate and avoid, this is why management of both people and the land is important. We observed roads, campfires, railroads, nails in trees, places where people had chopped into a tree with an axe. Camping has a large impact on areas. What starts out as a small area can quickly become as bad as a clear cut due to human’s impact. This leads to sediment erosion, prevention of species thriving due to compacted soils and chopping of wood for fire. This further had problems with lack of large woody debris in the water, important due to the ecological impact of carbon in the water and the organisms that rely on the wood. Because the New River has a high recreation factor, large woody debris often gets removed from the river anyway when trees get uprooted due and are not connected to bank due to the number of people who tube, boat, and kayak. Overall this shows why practicing “leave no trace” is important so that disturbances can be minimized and the ecological effects are therefore
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