User:Fgraba/sandbox

Article Evaluation of 3 global cycles: Mercury, Nitrogen, & Selenium

Mercury:

Everything in this article seems to be relevant to the topic of the mercury cycle. The article uses recent sources and has relevant graphics as well. More could be added about the bioaccumulation of mercury in fish. This article is concise and does not rely on too much jargon in order to explain concepts relevant to this article; although passive voice is used frequently. The tone of this article is neutral and does not overrepresent any viewpoint other than the presentation of scientific information relevant to the mercury cycle. The links to the sources in this article work and they are reliable sources such as academic papers or an article written by WHO. All the statements in this article are backed up by a source and there does not appear to be any bias in these sources.

Nitrogen:

This article is full of information about the nitrogen cycle including a multitude of graphics that help visualize how the element cycles through the earth. This article could probably use more headings for easier navigation. This article is better fleshed out than the other two and does not need much improvement; other than maybe in the organization of the article. The tone of the article is neutral and does not present as biased towards a specific viewpoint. The nitrification section could use some more sources as there is a large portion of the paragraph that is unsourced. The links to the sources work and are mostly academic papers written by the NIH which appear to be unbiased. The see also section could also be improved.

Selenium:

The article is written about the selenium cycle and does not stray off the topic of the article. This article could use improvement by including more information. More information could be added about how selenium is an important micronutrient for humans for example. The tone of the article is neutral and does not show any bias towards a specific viewpoint. The immobilization processes section is written without any sources. The links to the sources work; they are academic papers which appear to be unbiased. This article has a lot less sources than the other two and could probably use more sources published somewhat recently. Adding a see also section to other articles similar to the topic could help improve this article.

Evaluation of Catchment Hydrology page - EAS 1600

Content:

The article seems to include some relevant information on the topic of catchment hydrology. The amount of mathematical equations distracted me as well as how short the description of catchment hydrology is. I feel that more information describing what catchment hydrology is, as well as more citations. Information is not presented very clearly as the article jumps straight into equations used to calculate water balance in a catchment area. The article does link to many other topics related to catchment hydrology, although not all of the links are linked to Wikipedia pages that actually exist.

Tone:

The article is neutral and does not seemed biased towards any specific position. It does not seem to overrepresent any viewpoint.

Sources:

There is only one reference to a book but it is not clickable. After a google search the book referenced seems to be an in detail resource on catchment hydrology. It seems to be a reliable and neutral source with accurate information.

Talk Page:

Someone mentioned that they saved the page empty by mistake and that the page needed further information added to it. There are no ratings for this article. The Wiki-Project mentioned is for our course Wikipedia Project. This project is titled Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment.

Catchment hydrology draft:

Catchment hydrology is the study of hydrology specific to catchment zones where water collects due to the influence of gravity.

Water Sources

Catchment zones collect water from various sources such as surface runoff from snow cover and glaciers, and subsurface flow from groundwater, precipitation, and aquifers. Deposition from fog and clouds is another source of water for catchment zones. These sources of water collect together in a catchment area; which could provide drinking water for a nearby population.

Catchment zone in Nattai, Australia that contains drinking water.

Quantification

Precipitation in catchment areas is measured through rain gauges. A graduated ruler is used to measure the amount of snowfall. These measurements are taken in a specific location within the catchment and can be used to calculate water balance within the entire catchment area. The best studied catchments cover small areas because of the difficulty of these measurements. Water lost due to interception followed by evaporation represents a large portion of water loss. These measurements are used to obtain the change in water storage over time using the equation of continuity.

Catchment area near the Sholayar Dam

Topography

The surrounding topography of a catchment zone influences the flow vectors and direction that the water flows. Water flows from areas of high potential energy to low potential energy under the influence of gravity. The geometry of the slope leading to the catchment area influences the amount of water the catchment will contain.

Terminology

There are many terms involved with and related to catchment hydrology, from:

• aquifer
• baseflow
• catchment
• drainage divide
• evaporation
• evapotranspiration
• event water
• groundwater flow
• Horton flow
• hydrograph
• infiltration
• intensity
• interception
• overland flow
• pre-event water
• subsurface runoff
• subsurface stormflow
• surface runoff
• time of concentration
• transpiration