Blackhawk's Artesian Well EarthCache
Hidden : 1/12/2010
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size: not chosen (not chosen)

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Geocache Description:

This popular free flowing artesian well located in Blackhawk Point Wildlife Management Area.

An aquifer provides the water source for this artesian well. Porous stone is sandwiched between a top and bottom layer of an impermeable substance like clay or rock. The artesian water pressure is kept high due to porous stone being crushed between impermeable rocks along with the water’s density, and elevation of recharge zone (gravity). When you get to a point below the entryway of the flow, there is enough pressure (artesian pressure) to bring the water up. The water in the aquifer is also under enough pressure that, when the aquifer is tapped by a well such as this, the water rises up the well bore to a level that is above the top of the aquifer called the potentiometric surface.

Beneath Iowa's land surface is a vast, natural storage and distribution system for groundwater, a resource that supplies over 80% of Iowans with their drinking water supplies. This resource is available through wells drilled into river valley sands and gravels, into other sand and gravel bodies buried within glacial deposits, and into the deeper limestone and sandstone strata beneath the state.

The landforms enountered in this area are very unlike those found in most of Iowa, which is on the whole is absent Glacial Drift. As part of the Driftless Area, this area was ice free during the last ice age, and as one progresses to the Mississippi River, the streams and rivers display high-walled canyons carved of Silurian era bedrock. This Driftless Area also includes parts of Clayton, Fayette, Winneshiek, Howard, Dubuque, and Jackson Counties.

Karst topography is found throughout the Driftless. This is characterized by caves and cave systems, disappearing streams, blind valleys, underground streams, sinkholes, springs, cold springs and cold streams. Disappearing streams are when surface waters sinks down into the earth through fractured bedrock, either joining an aquifer, or becoming an underground stream. Blind valleys are formed by disappearing streams and lack an outlet to any other stream. Sinkholes are the result of the collapse of the roof of a cave, and surface water can flow directly into them. Disappearing streams can re-emerge as often powerful springs, often having been cooled down by the water's journey through the earth. Cold streams with cold springs as it sources are noted as superb trout habitat. All of these features are found in the Driftless area.
To receive credit for this
EarthCache:

In an e-mail to me-

1. Please tell me this artesian well's
flow rate in gallons per minute.

2. Please tell me this water's
temperature.

And

3. Photos are fun and further proof that you have actually been to this spring site.If you would like, please upload a photo of you and/or your group with a GPS at the above coordinates and the spring in the background.
(See example below)

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