The land features of Kensington Park are the direct result of the most recent glacier melt-away (approximately ten to twelve thousand years ago). We can walk through this park and observe hills, lakes, land depressions, and the ground gradually rising up before us. Prior to that glacier melt-away, the bedrock below had been built up slowly as successive layers of sedimentation deposited in a bowl-shaped depression called the Michigan Basin. Salt, dolomite, and lime are types of sediment that layered in during the pre glacial period.
The Ice Age began in North America following a gradual cooling of the climate. It was characterized by a huge continental glacier that advanced southward from Canada, completely covering present day Michigan. The ice sheet that covered Michigan was thousands of feet thick. It is known that four major advances and retreats of the glacier took place before it melted back into northern Canada and the polar region. The final retreat of the ice cap from this area left the land features that we see today.
As the glacier advanced, it slowly gouged out and scraped up enormous amounts of earth materials called glacial drift or debris. These materials, ranging from huge rocks to fine soils, were embedded in the ice and carried from northern lands to be deposited further south when the ice melted. When the glacier melted, its load of crushed and mixed debris was dumped where the ice had been. If the glacier was stagnant (not advancing but melting in place through evaporation) when it melted, the drift was dropped in place, resulting in a generally level covering called a ground moraine. When ice was advancing as fast as it was melting back, the drift was pushed and piled into long lines of hills called terminal or end moraines. Kensington Park is situated in such a moraine system.
The coordinates will take you to the very tip of an end moraine. You will be able to see the effect of erosion on this land mass. At the tip of the peninsula, take an altitude reading and have your picture taken. As you walk back up the incline, observe the trail. Stop at N42*31.741 / W083*39.088 and check the altitude. Now, you are ready for the three (3) requirements needed to log this earth cache.
1) What is the difference in altitude of the two (2) readings? Email your answer to me.
2) What is the composition of the trail leading back from the tip of the peninsula? Email your answer to me.
3) Post a picture of you at the tip of the peninsula.
This Earthcache has been placed with permission of the Huron-Clinton Metroparks.
This cache is located within Kensington Metropark, a part of the
Huron-Clinton Metropolitan Authority park system. A Metropark Vehicle Entry Permit is required:
Annual Permit $20, Senior Permit $12, Daily Permit $4. For general information please call
1-800-47-PARKS, or visit our website at www.metroparks.com All park rules and regulations apply.
Park in parking lots only. Check the Metroparks website for park hours.