DEATH of 'the ponds'? Earthcache EarthCache
DEATH of 'the ponds'? Earthcache
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As earthcache there is NO container to 'find.' Instead, you will discover something interesting about this area. Please e-mail to my profile the answers to the following questions--promptly!! You do not want me to DELETE do you?
REQUIREMENTS:
1- Of the steps of lake 'succssions' discussed below-- list only those that you see taking place at this location.
2- What is the major source of sedimentation that you observe?
3- How many years would you guess until these ponds become a marsh? 1 yr., 3 yr., 5yrs. 10 years ?
4- Tell me how many ponds you see at the cords?
Submit a picture of yourself in a recognizable part of the area WITHOUT giving away answers! (obviously the picture is OPTIONAL, though it really helps me verify your find if your answers are overly vague)
FTF: zcoach
The 'death' of ponds and lakes is a slow process called succession. It is natural and occurs in all ponds and lakes.
The ultimate fate of a lake or pond is to become filled with sediment and revert back to terrestrial vegetation - a process known as lake 'succession.'
Lakes and ponds are short-lived features from a geological standpoint. The main geological ingredient of this area that contributes to the sediment in this area of Tennessee, as can be seen at local road-cuts, is a deep layer of red clay containing sand. The small stream nearby floods often and brings this sand and clay as a sediment to The Ponds. The Ponds may eventually become a fresh water marsh.
Much of The Ponds is now only a few feet deep. Inadequate erosion control on the surrouding land in the past has caused an accumulation of sediment in The Ponds. Although erosion could be reduced with better soil management, The Ponds will become shallower as the natural process of lake and pond succession takes place.
During the warm summer, aquatic plants such as lillies crowd the edges of these ponds. In late fall the plants die and sink, joining fallen tree leaves on the ponds bottoms. This steady influx of silt soil and plant matter gradually fillls in the ponds.
As the pond shrink, grasses, shrubs and trees will claim the newly created soil around the edges.
Not all ponds and lakes are subject to rapid succession, especially if it has a steep, rocky shore or low erosion. You can tell when a lake or pond is dissappearing by the plant-life: where you see grasses, rushes, cattails,and reed along wet, indistinct and muddy sorelines, you know that the lake or pond is being taken over, ever so slowly.
Lakes and ponds can go through the process of 'succession' more rapidly in two ways. First, from a increase in runoff which carries sediments like mud and sand onto the lake or pond. Over time this added sediment will case it to become shallower and shallower until there is no longer a lake or pond--but a bog and eventually a field. The second way is from added nutrients like nitrate and phosphate pollutants that will increase the growth of algae that sinks to the bottom when it dies. This will help to fill it in.
It is easy to see that ponds and lakes shrink in stages, by a succession of plants and sedimentation, and this is why it is called 'succession.' It is only a matter of time until The Ponds will become a marsh, than a field, and then a forest.
A rain fall of 18"inches in less than 2 days in May of 2010 had a dramatic impact to increase the effects of 'succession' on The Ponds.
Resourse: Untamed Science/lake succession
Earth Science: Explaining lake succession
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