Emo Meredith/Cave Spring EarthCache
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The coordinates will take you to a small cave spring in Emo Meredith City Park.
A spring is a water resource formed when the side of a hill, a valley bottom or other excavation intersects a flowing body of ground water at or below the local water table, below which the subsurface material is saturated with water.
A spring is also the result of an aquifer (any geological formation containing or conducting ground water, especially one that supplies the water for wells, springs, etc.) being filled to the point that the water overflows onto the land surface. They range in size from intermittent seeps, which flow only after much rain, to huge pools flowing hundreds of millions of gallons daily.
Seepage or filtration spring. The term seep refers to springs with small flow rates in which the source water has filtered into permeable earth.
SEEPAGE SPRINGS are formed when groundwater slowly seeps out of the ground. Seepage springs usually occur in sand, gravel, or organic materials and generally are found in depressions or valley bottoms. Seepage springs are different from artesian springs because they are not necessarily confined (contained below a dense layer of clay or other material) and usually have low flows.
This spring is just west of Mammoth Cave and like Mammoth cave the sandstone has cracks that allow surface water to work it’s way down to the limestone layer.
The ground water then exits the limestone to form the spring you see before you. Springs like this one were critical to the historic early settlement of Brownsville. Without these springs there would not have been anywhere to get fresh drinking water.
To get credit for this Earth Cache you must get to the posted coordinates, find the answers to these questions and email me the answers.
A picture of you is not a requirement to log this Earth Cache but one would be appreciated.
Now for the questions
(1) Approximately how much water is coming out of the spring per minute?
(2) What do you see at this site that supports the theory that this is a seepage spring?
(3) How is this spring affecting the terrain between the cave opening and the spring outlet?
The park opens at 8:00 AM and closes at dust.
The park is closed during winter months to vehicle traffic but the city welcomes foot traffic into the park.
During winter months park outside the gate at the boat ramp.
Please don't park in front of the park gate.
This cache is wheel chair accessible in the summer months when the main gate to the park is open.
Like most cachers I find my information elsewhere.
In no way do I claim that all of the information contained in this Earth cache is 100% mine.
Like most people that create Earth Caches I had to do most of my research on the internet.
I found most of the information for this Earth Cache from Wikipedia , ga.water.usgs.gov. and http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/eh/wells/waterquality/springs.html
Additional Hints
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