Hydrology Scavenger Hunt: A Streamside Lesson to Identify Hydrological Features in General, Whitewater, and Waterfall Settings

This lesson addresses the development of hydrology vocabulary and the identification of hydrological features through the pursuit of a hydrology “scavenger hunt,” where students try to locate and record various hydrological features on a river/stream in the field. The students hunt for the features which are listed on a field logsheet and are defined in a provided Glossary of Hydrological Features. The target hydrological features are grouped into three lists, depending on the chosen field setting: 1) General (routine) environments, 2) Whitewater environments, and 3) Waterfall environments. The breadth of hydrological features makes the lesson suitable for either lower division nonmajors or upper division geoscience majors (there is also an optional subsection of fluid dynamics terms for major students). The lesson is scalable for afternoon trips to multi-day excursions, and flexible for streamside travel by land (driving & walking, hiking, or backpacking) or water (rafting, canoeing, or kayaking).