Determining Water Quality

There are several things to test to determine water quality such as nitrates, pH, conductivity, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, temperature, alkalinity, and E. coli. Each thing tested, directly affects one another.

http://fishandboat.com/images/fisheries/afm/2004/4_07-19sgl_trout.htm

Nitrates measures the amount of nitrogen (in it's several different forms) in a water body. For some plants and algae nitrogen is essential to help them grow or reproduce. With too little, plants wont grow and so there's not enough dissolved oxygen in the waterbed. With too much, plants can over grow and not allow enough sun through the water.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/4/review

pH tells the water's acid content. The pH scale ranges from 0.0 to 14.0 and shows how acidic or basic water is. 7.0 is neutral, anything greater than that is basic and anything less is acidic. If a waterbed is too basic or acidic the fish in that water will die. pH controls most processes that take place in the water, whether chemical or biological because every organism has a different level of pH it can tolerate.

http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/ph.html

Conductivity is testing if water can conduct an electrical current. Pure water will not conduct unlike water full of particles.

http://www.trakindo.co.id/website/pages/product-support/sos/laboratory-facilities.php

Turbidity is the measurement of how clear water is. This is important because the amount of turbidity directly effects how far and how much sunlight reaches in the water. Sunlight fuels plants photosynthesis and how ever far sunlight reaches determines how far plants can grow. These plants provide oxygen through the water. The more sunlight the more plants, the less sunlight the less plants. There are two ways to measure turbidity, a Secchi disk (for deep still waters) or a transparency tube (shallow and flowing waters).


http://www.herald-dispatch.com/news/x87591212/HHS-students-teach-science-to-fourth-graders?i=0

Dissolved oxygen is super important because fish need to breathe much like humans and other animals, and they need oxygen to do so. The amount of dissolved oxygen in water determines what can live there as different plants and animals require different amounts of oxygen to survive. Solubility is the measurement of dissolved oxygen and is affected by temperature (cold water dissolves more oxygen), atmospheric pressure (less pressure, less oxygen), salinity and what lives there. Plants add oxygen through photosynthesis into water.

http://www.herald-dispatch.com/news/x87591212/HHS-students-teach-science-to-fourth-graders?i=0

 Temperature is easy to measure but super important. It affects everything, what lives there, dissolved oxygen, pH, conductivity, etc. Plus it gives a good insight to weather patterns, local and global.

http://www.pondpets.com/pondtemp.htm

Alkalinity is a water bodies ability to neutralize acids. This is important because aquatic life is sensitive to acid. The better the alkalinity the better the water quality is.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/8/review

Mountain Top Removal Should Stop

Mountain Top Removal is slowly destroying West Virginia. There used to be mountains, healthy streams, a feeling of safety in West Virginia but with every mountain that is blasted down, those things disappear.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-rose/the-last-mountain-new-doc_b_875689.html

Mountain Top Removal is when tops of mountains are blasted out to get to a coal seam. These seams are more often than not, very small. The blasting is dangerous and annoying by itself. Rubble can go flying into the nearest community, hurting people and destroying homes. Plus the shanking from the blasts destroys foundations, again wrecking homes. Blasting occurs at all hours of the day, so if you have a kid, good luck getting them to sleep at a reasonable time.

http://www.mountainjusticesummer.org/facts/steps.php

Once the coal seam is reached the rest of the removed mountain is moved into valley fills. These valleys are homes to several animals and are where many streams originate. The animals are forced to move or die and streams are blocked off in that area. What little water is left in those streams are contaminated and cause people to get sick. There have also been mutated fish found in these waters. Imagine if the water is messing up the fish what it can to do a fetus, which is more susceptible to harm than an adult.  

http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/rperks/time_magazine_turns_attention.html

Coal Companies would have everyone believe that coal is good for our state. Coal is, after all the big money maker in our state. Coal Companies say they are creating jobs, jobs that are safer. They say they are using reclamation to bring back what was once here in West Virginia.

http://ohiocitizen.org/opposition-to-mountaintop-removal-coal-mining-solidifies-since-april-1/

But what they don’t tell you is that “safer” is just the miners not having to go underground because of Mountain Top Removal and that machines are actually taking over in the mining industry. Fewer and fewer miners are needed. So the jobs created are to operate these machines but that only takes one or two people. Hundreds of miners are what used to be used for the job a machine does.

http://ilovemountains.org/resources

Reclamation is another thing Coal Companies try to pass off as something good. They only show the few successes they have and make it seem that that’s how it always happens. They don’t show people that most of the time they just plant grass, or that the trees they grow are unhealthy. They definitely don’t tell people that they plant trees that aren’t native to the area and expect them to grow. They also don't tell how the little bit of grass or trees they plant don't stop erosion or flooding.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalmemorialforthemountains/4534742719/

Coal Companies biggest argument is that coal is what brings money into West Virginia. Well West Virginia is running out of reachable coal. Soon there won’t be any coal left, what will bring in the money then? And if coal is such a big money maker, why is it the communities sending out the most coal are the poorest in West Virginia. Plus the entire world is slowly moving to other energy sources, what will happen when they stop using coal all together. The Coal Companies have no answers for these questions, and they are not the answer for West Virginia.

Mountain Top Removal Should Continue

            Mountaintop Mining is not as bad as people make it out to be. They claim it’s bad for the environment and for the economy, but they are wrong.

            Special precautions are taken to make sure an environment is safe during and after mining. Miners have to take steps to ensure that their jobs are done properly and safely. After mines are closed trees and other plants are planted in the area to help keep landslides and floods from happening and to allow what once was to be once again.

            As for the economy there are many job opportunities in the mining field, how is that not a help? Plus once mines are abandoned the land can be reused for many different things. Mines can used as tourist attractions. The roads used by the trucks can be made into trails. The flattened land can be used for many different buildings such as housing, complexes, schools, malls and sometimes even a jail if needed.

            A lot of people are against Mountaintop Mining but they only look at the supposed “bad side” of. They don’t look at how much growth it has allowed. 

Hatfield and McCoy Trails 

My Opinion on Coal

     I truly don't have an opinion on coal in particular. I think that coal is being used in such great quantities that we wont have it anymore and we wont know what to do. But I don't think coal is a big bad monster that we're digging out of the ground. I can see the valid points from both sides.
    I can see how some methods are harmful to the environment and destroys homes for many people. I can see how the treatment of miners is bad and how there are fewer and fewer jobs because machines are taking over the industry. I can see that West Virginia's government is in the Coal Companies pockets.
    But I can also see how West Virginia's economy is dependent on coal, I get to see it first hand. I can see how companies are trying to regrow forests (even if the trees aren't healthy or native to that particular area) and how mining sites can be used for many different things (cemeteries, jails, malls, trails, etc.).
    I think mining regulations need to be followed more closely and that the word of the people living around where a mining site is should have more say in what happens to their own land, and I think that we need to find alternatives to coal.

Coal Camp Blog

Cranberry

Cranberry is one of the few mine shafts in its area of Raleigh County WV. It’s in the New River Coalfield and was originally Cranberry Fuel Company owned Cranberry but then the New River Company owned it. The original company store burned down in 1927 and was soon replaced. This store closed September 1, 1958 soon after the mine closed and now houses an antique store. The mine reopened in the late 60’s but closed “for good in 1973.” (http://www.coalcampusa.com/sowv/river/cranberry/cranberry.htm) Cranberry’s slate dump was sold by New River Company to Bill West.

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nylasgenealogy/coalmining.html

Surface Mining

There are three types of surface mining; strip, contour, and mountaintop.

Strip mining is used when coal is near earth's surface or when overburden is unstable. This is an easy method but overburden is placed in previous mine cavities.

 

Contour mining is a type of strip mining that follows the contour of a hill or mountain (hince the name contour). This leaves terraces in the mountainside but these terraces are seeded and vegitation is grown. http://www.ohiodnr.com/procedure_b/tabid/17894/Default.aspx

 

 

Mountaintop Removal is the most contriversial method of mining. Tops of mountains or hills are removed to access horizontal coal seams. Overburden is pushed to areas between high elevations and the original contour is not restored after reclamation. This method is very effective at getting coal but completely recontructs the land and often messes up streams and landscapes below the mountain or hill. http://www.mountainjusticesummer.org/facts/steps.php

Underground Coal Mining

There are five types of underground coal mining; drift, shaft, room & pillar, continuous, and longwall.

Drift mining is when the mine enters the seam horizontally, following the coal and is possible where coal seams intersect the surface. An advantage of drift mining is that gravity helps pull the coal down but cave ins are a constant threat. http://www.greatmining.com/drift-mining.html

 

Shaft mining is the most common method used in W.V. Elevators provide access to mines which are commonly 1000+ ft below the surface. These mines reach some of the lowest seams of coal but there is always the threat of mine collapse.http://www.uky.edu/KGS/coal/coal_mining.htm

Room & Pillar mining leaves nearly half the coal behind to support the roof. Room and Pillar mining is fast and simple but pillars sometimes squeeze leading to roof collapse, which is a constant danger. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-room-and-pillar.htm

Continuous Mining is a form of room and pillar mining that uses a machine that has a rotating steel drum with tungsten carbine teeth and can mine 5 tons of coal per minute. These machines are paired with conveyor belts to transport coal to the surface. But as with regular room & pillar mines there is a constant danger of roof collapse. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-room-and-pillar.htm

Longwall mining or retreat mining is a very efficient method of mining. A huge machine supports the roof with hydraulics as it removes the coal. This removes more coal than room & pillar mining but as soon as the machine is removed the roof falls. http://www.uky.edu/KGS/coal/coal_mining.htm

Formation of Coal

The formation of coal is a very lengthy process that starts with dead swamp plants. These plants get buried in the swamp but do not rot because of the anaerobic conditions, which mean there is no oxygen. This process creates peat, which is the coal precursor that can be used but is not very good for heat. Peat is then covered in sediment and compressed nearly 80%. From peat, lignite, or brown coal, is formed. This has low carbon value (higher than that of peat) and is used for electric power generation. After lignite comes bituminous, or black coal, which is the most common form of coal. It has a high carbon value and is coked for the steel industry. Anthracite, or hard coal, comes next and is a result of bituminous metamorphosis. This has the highest carbon content and a low smoke value. Coke is a coal product which comes from bituminous coal being heated in 2000 degrees Celsius and is used to produce energy/heat for the steel industry.

Chart Analysis

Mr. Sharpe is making me analyze an excel graph he made my class make and post the conclusions here. He had actually told my class he wouldnt make us do the excel, and that he would get them from another class from where we did all the averages used in the graphs. He said we could analyze those but we made our own, I guess that's what you should expect from a vitriolic man. So after that little rant of mine, here are my graph conclusions.

According to the data, all the surfaces temperatures react in much the same way just in varying degrees; when one temperature dips all the temperatures dip. Towards the begining of December the temperatures where higher as was the percent transmission. Around the middle of the data the temperatures dip as does the percent transmission. At the lowest point, which is on 12/12/12, though the temperatures are low while the percent transmission increased. After that point transmission decreases while temperature increases.

In November the information reads much like December. Generaly as percent transmission increases temperature decreases.

   

Aerosols Prediction

"Predict what effects aerosols may have on climate change. Cite evidence from your handouts."

Aerosols are tiny particles, both liquid and solid, in the atmosphere that come from both human and natural processes. Aerosols reflect sunlight out of the atmosphere and cool the surface of the earth. Aerosols also help form clouds that last longer and reflect more light as well (Hardin, Kahn). I predict that aerosols will continue to help cool earth's surface and if the amount of aerosols increase so will the amount of clouds and earth's cooling. The problem is scientist can get a general amount of of aerosols but has no way to discover which particles lead to what change in climate as of yet. Plus they have no way of knowing where particular particles come from and have no way to increase/decrease accordingly.

Works Cited

                 Nasa Observatory; Aerosols and Climate Change; Mary Hardin and Ralph Kahn