Thesis
60/60 A* exemplar NEA
- Module
- NEA (7037)
- Institution
- AQA
Selling my NEA based on variations in the water cycle. It was awarded 60/60. This should only be used as an exemplar and NOT to be copied or plagiarised.
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Content preview
Geography NEA | Max EverettWhat are the effects of differing
vegetation cover and land use on
infiltration rates in the Nettlecombe
Court Estate?
Table of Contents
2022 CANDIDATE RECORD FORM................................................................ ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: ....................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION: ..............................................................................................................................................3
KEY TERMS, PROCESSES AND THEORETICAL CONTEXT:.................................................................................................... 6
RATIONALE FOR HYPOTHESIS 1: ................................................................................................................................. 7
RATIONALE FOR HYPOTHESIS 2: ................................................................................................................................. 8
METHODOLOGY: ..............................................................................................................................................9
HYPOTHESIS 1 ...................................................................................................................................................... 11
HYPOTHESIS 2 ...................................................................................................................................................... 14
RISK ASSESSMENT: ............................................................................................................................................... 16
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS: ...........................................................................................................18
HYPOTHESIS 1 ...................................................................................................................................................... 18
HYPOTHESIS 2 ...................................................................................................................................................... 25
CONCLUSION: ................................................................................................................................................32
EVALUATION:.................................................................................................................................................34
REFERENCE LIST: ............................................................................................................................................38
APPENDIX: .....................................................................................................................................................39
RAW RESULTS: ..................................................................................................................................................... 39
STATISTICAL TEST WORKINGS:................................................................................................................................. 47
1
, Geography NEA | Max Everett
Executive Summary:
Infiltration is defined as the downward movement of water into the soil’s surface (A Level
Geography, 2016) and is a continual flow that dynamically transfers water from store to store.
Although this flow is largely the same locally, regionally and nationally variations can still be
seen from location to location. These variations are mainly due to many factors in the wider
landscape like vegetation cover – the percentage of soil covered by green vegetation (Kosmas,
2004) and land use – the function of land or what it’s used for (Bennett, 2013). This
investigation focuses on the quantitative effects that these factors have on the rates of
transfer around FSC Nettlecombe Court, hence my title of investigation. The findings display
that although there is an aspect of concurrent validity, they still differ from the theoretical
basis the investigation’s hypothesis were based off. Overall, I was mostly able to identify how
or if the factors listed in my title affect infiltration rates; but the ability to do this entirely was
partially undermined by ethical, methodological and validity-based issues.
2
, Geography NEA | Max Everett
Introduction:
Link to Specification:
The title chosen corresponds to the following specification points:
3.1.1.1 Water and carbon cycles as natural systems: as I hope this title will allow me to see
how water is transferred between the components of the system by flows (infiltration); using
existing knowledge about system concepts and applying them to Nettlecombe Court.
3.1.1.2 The water cycle: I will be investigating how infiltration rates can change due to
variations in the water cycle resulting from; differing land uses, ‘farming practices’, and
varying densities of ‘vegetation’ that are present in Nettlecombe Court.
3.1.1.5 Quantitative and qualitative skills: Given that the infiltration rates and soil compaction
data collected and presented will be primarily numerical; analytical skills involving
quantitative data will be used throughout my investigation, like that of data manipulation. In
addition, I will engage with a range of qualitative methods that produce non numerical
results, like photoscapes, that also require different data presentation and analytical skills.
Both of these in unison are essential for a comprehensive investigation.
The transfers present in the hydrological cycle have always been of interest to me as these
ultimately facilitate the system’s complex and interconnected nature. More interesting to me
still is the quantitative effects that factors have on their rates of transfer. This therefore
prompted the development of my investigation title as well as my main aim of enquiry:
- To identify the quantitative effects that both differing vegetation densities and land
uses have on infiltration rates around FSC Nettlecombe Court.
Consequently, this led to the development of my hypotheses that are as follows:
Hypotheses:
- Hypothesis 1 - The land use that creates the most densely compacted soil will produce
the lowest infiltration rates
- Hypothesis 2: The denser the vegetation the lower the infiltration rates
3
, Geography NEA | Max Everett
Locational Context:
Figure 1a – Regional map of Somerset County in South West England - OS Map Secondary Data (Googlemaps, 2021) Figure 1 – National map of UK pinpointing FSC
N
N Nettlecombe’s location- OS Map Secondary Data
(Googlemaps, 2021)
FSC Nettlecombe
Court
FSC Nettlecombe
Somerset County
Court
– South West UK
FSC Nettlecombe Court is U shaped valley located in Exmoor’s National Park which is in North
West Somerset (Figure 1a) and the South West of England (Figure 1). Nettlecombe is in the
river Exe’s catchment and is around 2.5km2 (Field Studies Council, 2020) as seen in (Figure 2).
The Field Studies Council was useful as all information gathered from this source is factual,
unbiased and recent meaning any developments made to my hypotheses as a result were
N
correctly evidenced.
I chose this location to complete my investigation as its grounds comprise of many different
land uses such as crop fields to the north of the site, grazing land for livestock to the south,
woodland to the east and urbanised land in the centre surrounding the Georgian country
mansion (FSC, n.d.) – seen in (Figure 3). However, the ability of FSC Nettlecombe’s website,
as source, to aid the development of my hypotheses is reduced. This is because FSC
Nettlecombe is a business meaning it needs to attract customers causing their information to
perhaps be biased or glorified; meaning it would be incorrect of me to blindly use this
information when developing my hypothesis. Nevertheless, the combination of the stark
variation in the differing land uses and their close proximity to each other means I could
investigate hypothesis 1 easily and within the time restriction.
In addition, Nettlecombe Court is a Site of Scientific Interest due to the vegetation types it is
home to (FSC, n.d.), suggesting that this is a good place to investigate a hypothesis looking at
4
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