This is 1 of 12 EarthCache sights in the SRWT. The first 100 to complete the trail will receive a geocoin commerating the SRWT, 60 of which are trackable. These will be available at the Mercer County Conservation District office Mon.- Fri. from 8 am to 4 pm after April 21st. We are located at 753 Greenville Road, Mercer, PA 16137. To learn more about this geoWatershed Trail, visit us by clicking here.
SHENANGO RIVER HISTORY (Mondok, 1990)
The Shenango River Basin is shared by the state of Ohio and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The river and its tributaries drain 744 square miles of the Pennsylvania counties of Crawford, Lawrence, and Mercer and 285 square miles of the Ohio counties of Ashtabula , Mahoning, and Trumbull. The waters and its tributaries been used for transportation such as the Erie Extension Canal, watering livestock, and other household uses.
Prior to European settlement, the land area of the Shenango was inhabited by many indian tribes including the Seneca and the Delaware. The word Shenango itself comes from the Iroquoian word Shaningo meaning “beautiful one”.
The 75 mile long river begins in the marshes that are now part of Pymatuning Reservoir near Hartstown in Crawford County and eventually meets the Mahoning River near New Castle in Lawrence County.
ICE AGE INFLUENCES (Mondok, 1990)
The topography and soils in Pennsylvania and Ohio were shaped during the Ice Age that ended about 10, 000 years ago. Prior to this glacial epoch, the Shenango River flowed in a northerly direction to the Atlantic Ocean via the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River. This dissected plateau was covered by glaciers; some were a mile thick in some places. Boulders, rocks, soil, sand, silt, and clay were carried with the glacial ice and deposited on glacial till, kame terraces, moraines, and eskers when the ice melts as the climate warmed. These deposits were so vast, that their ancient river valleys were filled, causing the flow from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico.
WHY ARE SEDIMENTARY ROCKS SO PROMINENT IN THIS AREA?
Sedimentary rocks are dominant in this region because this area was covered by an ocean for millions of years: first in the Cambrian period when the global sea level was high; during this time the ocean stretched far inland over most of the Northeast (Ansley, 2000).
The ocean also existed during the Taconic and Acadian mountain-building periods west of the new mountain ranges that were formed. The basin of the inland sea formed by the buckling of the crust from the compression of plates during the mountain-building stages (Ansley, 2000).
Conglomerates, sandstones, siltstones, shales, limestone, and dolostones are common rocks that were formed from these oceans and the bordering environments such as deltas, swamps, and tidal areas (Ansley, 2000).
SANDSTONE FORMATION
Sandstone is one of the most common of sedimentary rocks. It is formed in areas where sand is laid down and buried; this can occur anywhere that sand is prominent such as: river deltas, deserts, swamps, and ocean floors. As this sand becomes deeply buried, the pressure and slightly higher temperatures cause minerals to dissolve and become mobile. The sand grains become more tightly knit together, and the sediments are squeezed into smaller volumes. Cementing material moves into the sediment by the dissolved minerals. This forms the end product of sandstone (Alden, 2012).
BIG RUN FALLS
Big Run Falls are located along Big Run within the New Castle city municipal park known as Cascade Park. The stream and waterfall were created from the receding Wisconsin Glacier some 10,000 years ago. Big Run Falls is known as a plunge waterfall; this type of waterfall is characterized by water that drops vertically without touching the underlying cliffs behind it. Cascades are located before the actual plunge of waterfall. Cascades have various stages that they flow over as they fall down a rocky slope. Both types of waterfalls are present at Big Run Falls.
In addition to the beautiful waterfall, the rock formations that surround the falls are intriguing. These too were also formed during the receding of the glaciers during the ice age epoch. The rocks here are part of the Pottsville Group of the Pennsylvanian System. The Pennsylvanian System is a group of rocks that has been and is of enormous importance for its coals, clays, shales, sandstones, limestones, iron ore, petroleum, natural gas, and brines. These rocks cover an area of more than 70, 800 square miles in central and western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, western Maryland, western Virginia, West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, eastern Tennessee, and northern Alambama. There are four series within the Pennsylvanian system: Pottsville, Allegheny, Conemaugh, and Monongahela. The Pottsville is the basal(base) series of the Pennsylvanian system and is of vast importance for its mineral resources (Stout, 1944).
CASCADE PARK HISTORY
Cascade Park officially opened as a public park on May 29, 1897. Over the next few decades it grew to include various styles of entertainment such as: an outdoor theater, a large dance pavilion, a fifteen-acre lake, a zoo, several baseball fields, a carousel, a picnic grove, concession stands, a rollercoaster, and a host of midway rides. The heyday of the urban park was during the 1920’s when it was expanded to a full 183 acres. Today, it is part of the city’s public park system; it no longer has the rides or carnival-style persona. It now represents a park that has slowly been restored to its natural beauty. A place where one can take a stroll on one of the many hiking trails in the park or come to see the beauty of the falls. During the summer months, Cascade Park is one of the host sites for the largest event of New Castle “Back to the Fifties” (Lawrence County Memoirs, 2011).
Please note: Big Run is a Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission Stocked Trout Stream. So be sure to check out the fishing during the designated trout season. Click here to view the stocking dates for Big Run. To find the dates for Big Run, look up Lawrence County in the dropdown menu.
TO GET CREDIT FOR THIS CACHE:
Please be sure to send your answers to the following questions to jmccullough@mcc.co.mercer.pa.us in order to receive credit for this cache.
1. What type of rocks seem to be the majority of those exposed- sandstone, shale, or conglomerate? Defend your answer. (Hint: It may very well be the same type of rock that's formation was described in the educational write-up:). You may try to get a closer look at the rocks by walking down closer to the stream bottom.)
2. How does Big Run Falls provide the perfect example of a plunge waterfall?
A special thank you to the city of New Castle for allowing this EarthCache to be placed.
References:
Alden, A. (2012). An Introduction to Sandstone. About.com Geology. Retrieved from: http://geology.about.com/od/more_sedrocks/a/aboutsandstone.htm
Ansley, J. E. (2000). The Teacher-Friendly Guide to the Geology of the Northeastern U.S. Paleontological Research Institution, 32.
Lawrence County Memoirs. (2011). Cascade Park of Today. Retrieved from: http://www.lawrencecountymemoirs.com/lcmpages/180/cascade-park-of-today-new-castle-pa
Mondok, J. (1990). The Shenango River. Shenango Riverscapes, 1-2.
Stout, W. (1944). Sandstones and Conglomerates in Ohio. Geological Survey of Ohio, vol 54, p.81.