Sediment sampling

On Friday I went out on the Maki with Dave, Rex and Caleb to sample sediment from different locations in the Tauranga Harbour.  Dave is working towards his MSc and is interested in "Environmental effects of Port runoff from timber processing".

We took a control sample close to Matakana Island then samples from the north and south of the port where the logs are loaded onto the ships.

The smell close to the ships was unpleasant and strong.  Visually the samples looked a lot different when taken from the different locations. They were quite shelly and grainy from the control site and slimy and dark from by the port. 
(Science Capability - gather and interpret data)

Dave had his sample bags and specimen containers prepared in advance with labels written on waterproof paper.  He had also borrowed a dredge called the Petite Ponar.  This is used for shallow samples.  At times it didn't work so we also had Rex on board in his dive gear ready to collect the samples manually if need be. 

NoS
Understanding about science - science is a way of explaining the world and knowledge changes over time (this sampling hasn't been done since 1998)

Investigating in science
Ask questions, find evidence, explore simple models and carry out simple investigations to develop simple explanations