Beach Profiling

Profiling the beach: The path goes over the dune.

Teammates checking out the area we observed.

Beach profiling is the process of measuring the height of a beach at different points so you can see what the beach would look like in profile. It allows us to look at the beach from the side, which is a perspective we could only actually achieve by going underground. The main factors affecting the profile of beaches are wind, waves, and human activity.

If you wanted to profile a beach, follow these instructions:

1. 
   
   Locate the beginning marker on the beach. Find its GPS coodinates.


2. 
   
   Locate the direction perpendicular to the ocean and find its direction in degrees. Measure out the length with a transect line.


3. 
   
   Place the Rise measuring stick on the beginning point. Place the Run measuring stick so it just contats the Rise stick (in the direction of the transect line). Make sure both are level and take measurements from both (upward movements are negative where downward ones are positive).


4. 
   
   Move the Rise stick to the current location of the Run stick and place the Run stick so it just contacts the Rise stick. Level and measure.


5. 
   
   Repeat 3-4 until the Run stick reaches the foot of the beach. Place the Run stick in the center of the foot (this may mean that the Run stick goes past the Rise stick). Level and measure.


6. 
   
   Analyze your data.

Sand Analysis Lab

Original images of the Cove have been lost. This beach is the best representation.

Charley Young

The Cove

Charley Young

Introduction: A beach is a location where a sediment is actively being exchanged through tidal movements. This sediment can be any number of types of sediment, but it is usually called sand. Sand can be classified as either biogenic (produced by living creatures) or detrital (produced by nonliving objects eroded down (detritus)). The purpose of this lab is to select several Maui beaches and determine whether the sand there is biogenic or detrital. Most of the biogenic material comes from coral. Coral is built from calcium carbonate. When calcium carbonate comes into contact with acetic acid (vinegar), it produces calcium acetate, water, and carbon dioxide. You can hear the carbon dioxide being produced; it creates a crackling noise.

Question: Which beaches on Maui have detrital sand, and which ones are biogenic?

Hypothesis: I believe that the Cove and Charley Younge both have mostly biogenic sand. If the sand is biogenic, it will chemically react with vinegar.

Materials:

• Cups


• Some form of transportation


• Tape


• Markers


• Two beaches (The Cove and Charley Younge in this case)


• Beakers


• Pipettes


• Vinegar

Procedure:

1. Collect samples. Place in labled cups.


2. Place sand in beakers. The sand should just cover the bottom of the beaker.


3. Using a pipette, drop one milliliter of vinegar into the beaker with the sand.


4. Check for a reaction. Sometimes the reaction will be visible but if not, place ear over the opennig of the beaker to hear for the crakling.


5. Record results.

Data: The Cove had a large amount of rock availible, but most was placed by people, and thus had little time to erode. I suspect that very little sand will be detrital. Charley Young may have some natural rock formations, but the sand is still a pale color which indicates that much of it is ground coral and thus biogenic. Both sand samples reacted when they came into contact with the acetic acid.

Conclusion: During this lab, we asked ourselves which beaches were biogenic and which were detrital. I suspected that the Cove and Charley Young were both mostly biogenic, and that if this were the case, they would react with acetic acid. Because both samples reacted with the acetic acid, both samples must have contained biogenic material.

Sources of Error: The sand may not have been representative of the beach, though this is unlikely. Variations in the amount of acetic acid introduced to the sand, and the sand itself may have altered the reaction. Our test was not specific enough to tell how much of the sand was biogenic, so even the mostly detrital beaches reacted because they still contained some of the calcium carbonate.

Whale Conclusions

A graph showing the disance of several whale pods from shore. This is only from the first trip.

Recently, we went whale watching for the second time to complete our data. From this, I was supposed to formulate my conclusion. The question I attempted to answer was whether whales like to be closer to shore or farther away, earlier or later in the season. I expected that they would like to be closer to shore earlier in the season, because the calves would be younger at that time and would require the protection from predators that the shore provides. I was unable to conclude because I could not measure my distance from shore during the second whale watch.

I thought that this whole trip was kind of fun. I enjoyed going on our whale watches. It wasn't my area of expertise, but it was fun.

Whale Observation

In science class, we are doing a humpback whale observation lab. The idea is to collect data on the whales early and later on in the whale season here to test multiple hypotheses regarding the whales. We measure distance and direction of the whales, we count the whales, and we record their behaviors.

My personal research question is "Are humpback whales closer to the shore earlier in the season or later?" I hypothesize that they are closer to shore earlier in the season, where the younger calves can be sheltered from predators by local coves.

To observe the whales, we went to MacGregor's point, on the road to Lahaina. I had fun observinig the whales, but we only saw two pods.


To measure the distance of the whales from shore, we used clinometers. A clinometer is a protractor with a weight on a string. It is used to measure angles relative to the Earth. Using this device, along with a GPS, we were able to find our distanc from the whales, by taking our angle relative to the whales, and then multiplying the tangent of that angle by our altitude.

Tide pools

There are many different invertebrates living in the tide pools on Maui's shores, but most are classified under nine phyla. Porifera refers to sponges. Cnidarians are jellyfish and corals. Platyhelminthes are flatworms. Nemotoda refers to roundworms. Mollusks are shelled animals like snails and bivalves. Annelids are segmented worms. Arthropods have jointed limbs, like crabs. Echinoderm (meaning spiny skin) refers to star fish and sea urchins. Chordata refers to fish.

For a recent lab in science class, it was our job to go to some tide pools and see how many of these types of invertebrates we could find. We wanted to know which phyla were most diverse and abundant. I expected Arthropods to be the most diverse and Mollusks to be the most abundant. It turns out, that Mollusks overwhelmed all other phyla in both areas.

I thought learning about these animals was the best part of the lab. I found that many of the phyla and species we learned about I had never seen. I still haven't seen many of them.

Pictures From Geocaching

None of these pictures are of my group.

Geocaching

Geocaching is a kind of modern-day treasure hunt game. Geocachers are given the coordinates of a specific cache and use GPS devices to locate said cache. You can find plenty of geocaches on this website: http://www.geocaching.com/ .

This interesting use of GPS technology raises the question "How does GPS work?" GPS, or the Global Positioning System, works with a system of 24 satellites. When a user wants to know their location, he/she uses a GPS device to find their distance from three or more satellites (technically, four are needed for an exact location), and then can triangulate their location based on the locations of the satellites.

In class, we had a "Geocaching Battle Royale," where we had to find the most geocaches during the period. Our group only found two of the four we searched for.