Weekly Blog - 2/8-2/12 - The Ob River

Summary: We continued working on our project on the Ob River. I learned quite a lot on the Ob River this week and I think that information really helped our project. This week I learned about the environmental and cultural significance because we all shared the information we had on our research topics. After we shared that information, we worked on what will happen if people don't help and how people can help. I now know that the Ob River is home to about 50 different species of fish. The area around the Ob River has very rich soil, known as peat soil, which helps the crops grow. As well as that, I know that during winter the water freezes causing oxygen loss to the wildlife in the river. The middle and lower section of the Ob is very polluted due to people dropping of oils and gasses. I know that one main group of people, the Khanty people, live around and near to the foothills and mountainous areas of the Ob River. The Khanty people were originally known by the Russians as the Ostyak, but in 1930 their names were officially changed to the Khanty. The Khanty people lived anywhere from the Arctic Circle to the Gulf of Ob. We figured out that the one main way people can help the Ob River is by finding a more eco friendly way to get rid of gasses and oils that are normally dropped near the Ob River. People should do that because if the river continues to get polluted the fish will die causing fishermen to lose their jobs. Homes near the Ob River will have to be evacuated if the pollution spreads, as well. I learned how the culture, environment, economics and stewardship of the Ob River work together.

SP2: Developing and using models: For our project we had to create a map of our river and we thought creating a model would help people better understand the river because it is 3-D. A normal map shows people the names of places, so the understand where they are, so we thought why should out model have the same thing. Our model showed the different features of our river, such as floodplains, tributaries and meanders. I thought if someone looked at the two it would help them not only understand our river, but what the features are or mean. Making the model and the map gave me a better perspective on how the Ob River looks which will help me better describe. Even though I believe our model turned out great there were a few bumps on the road. First of all, figuring out how we were going to make our model look 3-D took a while. After, we had to make the land look fertile which required a lot of green and brown clay, as well as time and effort to make sure they blended well. Lastly, we had to decide whether or not to add the tributaries. Towards the beginning we thought of adding just the main tributary with the river, even though there were two other tributaries on the map. Towards the end we added the other two, so people would understand it better. I learned where everything is on the Ob River and some new features I never knew the river had.

Image: 

commons.wikimedia.org