Chalamain Gap Earthcache EarthCache
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The Chalamain Gap is, in summer, a pleasant walk of a few hours,
but in winter or poor weather, may be very severe. If there is snow
on the ground, or the weather is poor and you are not an
experienced mountaineer, then this cache is not for you. Please
take care in the mountains.
The Chalamain Gap is a striking example of a glacial overflow channel. During the last ice age about 10,000 years ago (The Loch Lomond Stadial), there would have been a large glaciers flowing north /north west from the high Cairngorm plateau, down towards Strath Spey. Under all the ice would have been fast flowing streams of water, possibly inside tubes or round channels through the ice or at ground level. The direction of flow of these under ice channels were usually in the same direction as the ice movement of the glacier. A high ridge of rock would have separated glaciers from the present Lurchers Gully / Coire an Lochain areas from a parallel ice flow in the Lairig Ghru. However, at the Chalamain Gap, underice water flow has cut diagonally through the rock ridge in a north easterly direction, flowing out from the Lairig Ghru under the Coire an Lochain Glacier. The rocks in the Gap show characteristic water rounding. The lower end of the gap (to the north east) shows that this was the direction of the water flow downhill. The Gaelic name for this type if feature is "Eag" and there are many more of these around this area. The famous Ryvoan Pass is another example of a large meltwater or glacial cut through channel.
To claim this cache, you must do three things:
1) Post a photo of yourself actually in the Gap - no distance photos allowed!!. Your GPSr must clearly be in view.
2) Find out the names and locations of some other local meltwater channels.
3) The length of the Gap is over 400m. On your visit, stand at the widest point in the Gap and estimate the width and height of the channel at this point.
Once you have some answers, email me the answers to the two questions via my profile.
If I do not receive the answers and/or a photo is not posted, you may have your log deleted..... Educational guidelines for Earthcaches are set by Geocaching.com and GeoSociety.org (Earthcache) and have to be adhered to.
Please note: I no longer cache actively, but have kept these caches (Earth and Virtuals) for the enjoyment of those who do. I may not reply, therefore, to your email. If you are really looking for a reply, please don't log this cache.
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