The Top of Ohio EarthCache
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The coordinates will take you to the parking area. From
there it is a short walk to the area of interest.
Please note the restricted hours posted on the page
below.
The Bellefontaine Outlier on a shaded relief
map.
The Bellefontaine Outlier on a generalized bedrock
map.
In the western portion of Ohio, the landscape is abruptly
interrupted by a hilly area in what is now present day Logan and
Champaign Counties. Here, there is considerable topographic relief
compared to the almost featureless and relatively flat surrounding
glacial till plains. This hilly area is underlain by the
Devonian-age Columbus Limestone and Ohio Shale but is surrounded on
all sides by older Silurian rocks. The nearest continuous outcrop
of Devonian-aged rock is more than 30 miles to the east. Thus, this
hilly area of Devonian-aged rock in Logan and Champaign Counties is
a geologic island, or outlier-The Bellefontaine Outlier. The Top of
Ohio is located almost in the center of this outlier.
The Wisconsinan aged continental ice sheet split here. It split
into two distinct lobes, the Miami lobe to the west and the Scioto
lobe to the east. The area between the lobes and to the south of
the outlier became a major glacial sluiceway, the Mad River Valley,
extending all the way into southern Ohio.
It is believed that the Devonian-aged rocks of the outlier consist
of a series of fault blocks that were probably dropped downward and
protected from extensive erosion that removed other Devonian rocks
across western Ohio. Gradually, erosion exposed the buried fault
blocks, which were more resistant to erosion than the Silurian
limestones and dolomites surrounding them. Eventually, the Devonian
rocks stood out as an elevated area.
To claim a find, please email me the answers
to the four questions below. Also you will need to upload a picture
of your GPSr at the location in Question 2 showing an elevation
reading.
Question 1: What is the common name of the
location of this cache and what is it know for?
Question 2: What is your the elevation at this waypoint? Take a
picture of your GPSr displaying the elevation reading and post it
with your log. (Note: Be sure to place your GPSr on the ground to
get the correct reading.)
Question 3: What is the difference in elevation on the historical
marker and the benchmark?
Question 4: At the benchmark, mark waypoint N39 06.598, W084
48.827 with your GPSr. What is the distance to this newly created
waypoint and why do you think this area is famous?
Hours available for visit:
Monday through Friday: 6:30am - 10:00pm
Saturday: 7:00am - 7:00pm
Sunday: closed
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