Long Description
The mountain was named after Isadore Boucherie. He moved here in the 1880’s and owned the farmland that encompassed the base of the mountain. It is rumored that Boucherie buried a large sum of money on his property before his death. Maybe one day, erosional activity combined with some lucky waymarker or geocacher will have a part in exposing his hiding spot.
Boucherie Mountain has seen a lot of changes over its life. It currently has an elevation just over 750 meters but in the Eocene Epoch, Mount Boucherie was over 2000 meters in height. It is a former volcano that had a base area that would have reached from the Kelowna International Airport all the way to the Okanagan Connector. In its day, this volcano was extremely active and played a part in forming many other Kelowna landmark features. Glacial erosion is what gives the mountain most of the characteristics we see today.
Glaciers once dominated the landscape until about 10 000 years ago and the ones in the Okanagan area were at least 3 kilometers thick, the thickest parts encompassing the deepest parts of Lake Okanagan. Advancing and retreating glaciers slowly but surely took their toll on Mount Boucherie. They constantly eroded the mountain through their movement and are to blame for removing the top 1250 meters of the mountain. The eroded material was then carried and deposited downstream with the help of water. Glaciers were eroding Mount Boucherie for thousands of years until they finally retreated northward. As the glaciers withdrew from increasing temperatures, the debris flow from further north started building around the base of Mount Boucherie. This caused the foot of the mountain to be slowly buried by glacial deposits, now known as the White Lake formation.
These cliff deposits were placed here by flowing water during this formation. Running water has the ability to sort debris and deposit the suspension/solution in a uniform pattern. The more turbid the water, the higher the capacity to suspend larger materials. The smaller grained material will be held longer than the larger material and therefore will separate later and further downstream. This concentrates the similar grained material by releasing them at the same spot. This cliff was formed from the consistent release of fine grain material being deposited into the same area over time. The holes (craters) that you see in front of you were once fine sediment deposits combined with calcite, the first bonding agent. We know this because if you put diluted hydrochloric acid on calcite you will get a reaction or effervescence (fizzing). The calcite was placed there by groundwater percolating into the sediment at random locations forming calcite pockets. Later, quartz was also dissolved into the sediment, it was the final step in binding all the material or cliffs together. Now these cemented materials stayed put until it was eroded and exposed to the elements. Once the calcite pocket is exposed to the rain, which is mildly acidic from dissolving carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, it degrades due to weathering. So, 10 000 years of atmospheric conditions are responsible for dissolving the calcite that held these sediment pockets together. The original fine-grained material fell out of the rock because the calcite is weakened. The rest of the cliff stays put because it is bound together with quartz. Quartz is not easily dissolved by acidic rain water so you are left with these strange looking cliffs that look like they contain numerous craters.
What you might see at GZ!
Sources
Roed, Murray A. and John D Greenough. 1995. Okanagan Geology: British Columbia. Sandhill Book Marketing Limited. Kelowna, BC. Pg: 180 - 200
Steeves, Judie. 2003. Kelowna Capital News. http://www.okanaganclassifieds.com/archive/2003/01/20/stories/7876_full.txt
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SEND E-MAIL TO QUESTIONS BELOW BEFORE YOU POST A LOG!!!
1. To log this Earthcache, fulfil the educational requirements by e-mailing me answers to these questions;
a.) What is the dominant aspect or exposure of the Earthcache site (i.e.) what is your bearing if you had your back to the cliffs?
b.) What is the estimated height of the cliffs and the estimated average size of the craters?
ALSO,
2. (Optional) Post at least one picture of the cliffs and your GPS.
3. Indicate in your log the number of people in your group.