The coordinates take you to a prime viewing spot for "Big"
Clifty Falls. A well-marked trail will take to you two related
features: Cake Rock, and "Little" Clifty Falls. Clifty Canyon was
carved out of 425 million-year old shales and limestones during the
last Ice Age, 10 thousand years ago or more. The nearby Ohio River
formed from the meltwaters of glacial ice as the sand and gravel at
the extreme edge of the advancing glaciers dug deeply into the
bedrock.
To claim this Earthcache, visit both waterfalls and Cake
Rock, and determine the answer to one of two questions:
1) Why is Little Clifty Falls called "Little" when it is the same
height as "Big" Clifty Falls? Can you explain how they may have
formed so differently, even though they formed at the same
time?
2) Which layer of the rock bedding of the Falls matches the rocks
in Cake Rock? (To claim this question, include the coordinates for
Cake Rock in your email Photographs are welcome!
Clifty Falls and the Clifty Canyon are erosion features formed
by the drainage pattern created by the cutting force of Big Clifty
Creek and Little Clifty Creek as they wind their way to the "new"
Ohio river. Clifty Creek plunges downward almost 80 feet from the
rim of the upper canyon to create Big Clifty Falls. Past Big
Clifty, the creek travels an additional three miles, descending
another 250 feet, before it merges with the Ohio River.
Big Clifty Falls is just one of the four large waterfalls
created by the water flowing over the imprevious shales as the
creek tumbles downward, eroding away the exposed limestone. Little
Clifty Falls can be viewed from a walkway across the falls. The
path to Little Clifty Falls will take you past Cake Rock, a remnant
chuck of stone that fell from one of the nearby canyon walls during
the formation of the canyon. The area is now part of 1416 acres
known as Clifty Falls State Park and Clifty Canyon Nature
Preserve.
The shales and limestones of the park are among the oldest
bedrock exposures in Indiana. Fossils and rock layers found in the
park identify the bedrock as being near 100 million years older
than the nearby sandstones and shales of the south central 'Knobs'
region and nearly 150 million years older than the coal-bearing
deposits of southwestern Indiana.
Our class would like to challenge visitors to help with an
ongoing site study. To get involved in the study, simply post
photos of the falls --with dates noted-- We will compare photos
taken over the course of the year to determine the "best" times to
visit the Falls. We predict the spring will be the best time to see
rapidly flowing water, but several web pages claim that the fall
months provide the most dramatic flows. We want to test this
hypothesis.
Maps, admission information, park rules and other helpful
information can be found at:
http://www.in.gov/dnr/parklake/properties/park_cliftyfalls.html
Additional photos and information can be found at:
http://www.gowaterfalling.com/waterfalls/clifty.shtml
http://www.trails.com/tcatalog_trail.asp?trailid=HGM055-031
Hiking is encouraged, but remain on the trails. The Falls are
located in a Nature Preserve that is home to many rare plants and
creatures. Fossil collecting is prohibited in the park.
Clifty Canyon cuts through Silurian-Devonian bedrock near the
high elevation in the park (about 800 feet above sea level) into
the Late Ordician shales and limestones near the lowest extreme of
the canyon, at about 500 feet above sea level.
Beginning with the southern end of the gorge,the gray shales of the
Dillsboro formation form a series of layers about 250 feet thick.
The falls are formed by the weather-resistant Saluda member of the
Whitewater formation that overlies the lower layers. In the
southern end of the park the Brassfield limestone appears in
outcrop, at the northern end, the Brassfield layer is missing, and
the Salamonie dolomite rests directly on the Saluda member.
http://igs.indiana.edu/Geology/maps/statebedrock/geology.cfm
http://igs.indiana.edu/geology/structure/compendium/html/comp36p0.cfm
