Little Manitou Lake EarthCache
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Saskatchean's first earthcache is located at Manitou Beach on Little Manitou Lake, just north of Watrous, Saskatchewan. Manitou Beach is a small lake resort with a Mineral Spa to experience the wonders of its waters.
Little Manitou Lake (13.3 sq km) is a topographically closed, hypersaline lake that occupies a long, linear glacial meltwater channel in the northern Great Plains of western Canada. Most of the modern and late Holocene sediment in the lake has been generated from within the basin itself, either by endogenic inorganic precipitation or by other authigenic processes. These endogenic and authigenic precipitates, composed of mainly very soluble sulfate salts and sparingly soluble carbonates, provide an explicit record of the past chemical and hydrological fluctuations that have occurred in the lake. Little Manitou Lake's water is 5 times more concentrated with salt than the ocean's water.
Here is a breakdown of the mineral composition of the water:
Parts/Million -- Ocean - Manitou
Chloride - - -- 18,980 - 16,820
Sodium - - - - 10,556 - 17,550
Sulfate - - -- - 2,649 - 44,303
Magnesium - -- 1,272 -- 8,943
Calcium - - - -- - 400 -- - 379
Potassium - - - - 380 -- - 769
Bycarbonite - - - 140 - -- 935
Bromide - - - - - - 65 - - - 48
Other - - - - - - - - - - - - 40
Total Density- 34,482 - 89,747
The added density greatly enhances buoyancy and makes it impossible for people to sink. The minerals in the water are also highly therapeutic in variety of ways. Weightlessness and a heated spa/bath experience work at relieving pressure from muscles and joints, cleanse and heal the skin, relieves stress and generally work in a holistic way to heal the body.
Since the early 1800s native people have been bringing their sick to the lake they named after the spirit Manitou. The practice started after some Assiniboine afflicted with smallpox were cured after drinking and submerging themselves in its waters. From the turn of the 20th century until the Great Depression the lake was a popular resort area. Since the late 1980s the putative health benefits and the buoyancy of the water of Little Manitou Lake have again been attracting tourists.
To log this cache you must message or e-mail me the answers to the following questions. (All the answers can be found at the wall display in the concourse of the Manitou Springs Resort & Mineral Spa:
1. On first line, give me the name of the earthcache, the GC code, and your caching name(s).
2. What type of material prevented Little Manitou Lake from draining?
3. What type of sand lies on the bottom of Little Manitou Lake?
4. What prevented surface drainage to seep downward?
Do NOT post your answers in your log. Please be sure to submit your answers to me or your log will be deleted.
See websites: Manitou Springs Resort & Spa
Tourist information
Additional Hints
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