Puget Sound EarthCache
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In order to count this Earthcache as a find, you must complete the following tasks and email the answers to me.
1. What is the elevation?
2. Using fishing line and a depth finder (or some other invention of your choice), determine the depth of the Puget Sound from the pier.
3. What evidence of glacial activity (particularly along the shoreline) can be seen in this area?
4. What evidence of glacial debris can be seen in this area?
5. Estimate the width of the Sound from this location.
This Earthcache is located at a public pier along the waterfront overlooking the Puget Sound. The Seattle Aquarium and other souvenir shops and restaurants are located nearby. While the pier is under construction, please feel free to complete requirements for this eartcache from the aquarium pier or any other pier along the boardwalk. Enjoy!
Looking at a map, the Puget Sound looks like an arm of the Pacific Ocean. Puget Sound is a sound that borders the state of Washington and the Canadian province British Columbia. In geographical terms, a sound is a narrow stretch of water that forms an inlet or that connects two wider areas of water, such as two seas or a sea and lake. The Puget Sound is an inlet of water. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) defines Puget Sound as a bay with numerous channels and branches--a fjord system of flooded glacial valleys.
The Puget Sound as we know it today is a deep channel that averages 450 feet in depth. The floor of the Sound is made up of basins and sills. Basically, it looks like an underwater range of valleys and hills. Today’s Puget Sound system extends approximately 100 miles--from Deception Pass in northwest Washington to Olympia, Washington, just south of Seattle. This Sound serves as the divider from the Olympic Mountains to the west and the Cascade Mountains to the east.
The creation of the Puget Sound can be attributed to glacial activity. Prior to the Seattle-area landscape being covered by massive glaciers, all that existed was long, skinny lakes of freshwater, not connected to the ocean. Some 20,000 years ago, a massive glacier from Canada pushed its way south into present-day northwest Washington. The Puget Lobe (tongue-like extension of the main ice sheet) pressed its way in between the Cascade and Olympic Mountain ranges--directly over the Seattle area. This ice sheet covering the Seattle area was up to a mile thick, or higher than five Space Needles stacked on top of each other.
As the glacier advanced and retreated, it gouged and sculpted the landscape, leaving behind a deep valley connected to the ocean and piling glacial debris along side the valley and mountain ranges. As the glacier melted, the meltwater from the ice sheet added to the already existing lakes and flooded. This melt water lake swelled 120 feet above today’s Puget Sound. Over time, this lake was able to drain via the Chehalis River. The end result was deeply gouged channels and north-and-south oriented passages and bays: the basic formation of the Puget Sound as we know it today.
NOT A LOGGING REQUIREMENT: Feel free to post pictures of your group at the area or the area itself - I love looking at the pictures.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)