BlueBerry Hill Sinkhole Or Not!!!! EarthCache
BlueBerry Hill Sinkhole Or Not!!!!
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Often we only see sinkholes when they do damage such as apparently eating a swimming pool, some roadway, and buildings. This earthcache will help you better understand how they are formed and why they are important and what maybe confused as a sinkhole. Some sections of New Brunswick has bedrock that is a high quality limestone and has allowed the formation of this post-glacial sinkhole. Solutional sinkhole that are known regionally as a sink, shake hole, swallow hole, swallet, doline or cenote, is a natural depression or hole in the surface topography caused by the removal of soil or bedrock, often both, by water. Sinkholes may vary in size from less than a meter to several hundred meters both in diameter and depth, and vary in form from soil-lined bowls to bedrock-edged chasms. They may be formed gradually or suddenly, and are found worldwide. The mechanisms of formation in this area is the gradual removal of slightly soluble bedrock limestone by percolating water, the collapse of a cave roof, or a lowering of the water table. On the surface, sinkholes may develop progressively as subtle, bowl-shaped depressions, or collapse suddenly into steeply sided, water-filled craters. The shape of the sinkhole, and the speed that it forms, depend on the size of the subsurface cavity and the thickness of the overburden (sediments or organic matter that rest on the limestone bedrock). If the overburden is thin or absent, often the case in this area, the surface of the limestone bedrock is broken down by erosion from surface water. These bowl-shaped depression formed naturally slowly and continuously as chemical and physical processes erode the rock. Some sections of New Brunswick has bedrock that is of a volcanic origin and forms feature that look much like a sinkhole but are called Kettle Holes. While it gives the appearance of a sinkhole the shape and structure are somewhat different. A kettle hole are often formed in a marine delta which are generally associated with glacial barrens. The kettle hole is formed by blocks of ice that are separated from the main glacier - perhaps the ice front stagnated or retreated or perhaps ice blocks were washed out from the glacier during a glacier flood. If conditions are right, the isolated blocks of ice then become partially or wholly buried in outwash. When the ice blocks eventually melt they leave behind holes or depressions. The sides of a kettle are shallow generally less then 25 degrees while a doline general had side approaching 38 degrees. Both can fill with water if the level of the groundwater is high enough. If the bottom is below the water table year round they form a pond if not they generally support a vernal pool in the spring or even maybe empty year round if the soil is well drained. There are a number of these holes filled with water that the farmers uses for water during dry periods. He has even tried to determine their depth but stopped at 100 feet. The farmer realizes what a good sourse of water they ponds without an outlet are for him. To log this Earthcache: You must visit the area and email me what was on both sides of the road leading up to the cache site..... . There is no container or logbook for you to sign just a unique roadside feature to observe. You must post a photo of yourself or just you GPS with the feature in the background and then send an e-mail with you answer to the following question, are the features that you are looking at sinkholes or kettle holes? Please do not go on the fields as the picture can be taken, by the side of the road. As you look at the hole think about what it must have been like to be in this location when the collapse took place. Imagine if you will on Feb. 23, 2007 a 100meter deep sinkhole formed in Guatemala City, Guatemala killing two people as it swallowed about a dozen homes in the early morning. On May 9, 1981, a large sinkhole collapsed in Winter Park, Florida, swallowing a house, five Porsches at a luxury car dealership, and half of an Olympic-sized swimming pool. In Cape Breton, Nova Scotia a team of horses fell into a sinkhole as it collapsed, while it did not kill the animals it did cause an issue when they had to be removed. As for kettle hole they bare just as impressive, generally known for their sand beaches they some times form lakes six kilometers across. Either way I hope you will look differently at these holes along the side of the road.
This Cache was hidden by a member of the MGA!
-=Maritime Geocachers Association=-
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