Sedimentation
Sedimentation is when dirt and particles in water sink to the bottom and settle.
Drop a spoonful of soil into a glass of water and stir it. The cloudy mix looks brown at first, but the heavy bits soon fall. They pile up at the bottom as a dark layer. The water above slowly clears as the particles settle out.
Explaining sedimentation by grade level
Stir dirt into a jar of water and then set it down. The heavy bits fall to the bottom first. Lighter bits take longer but they sink too. After a while, the water on top looks much more clear.
Projects that explore sedimentation
Gravity pulls solid particles out of flowing water, letting them collect on the bottom — that process is sedimentation. In this project, you compare suspended sediment in Umptanum Creek and Wenas Creek using an Imhoff cone. You let water from each creek sit still inside the cone so particles settle downward, revealing how much solid material each waterway carries.
Sedimentation is when particles in water sink and settle on the bottom. In this project, you let strained water sit in a tube so fine particles sink to the bottom. This settling step uses gravity to pull dirt downward, separating it from the water above.