Esker, Kames and Kettles, OH MY EarthCache
Esker, Kames and Kettles, OH MY
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The Earthcache site is maintained by the Ohio Dept Natural Resources. It is a prime example of eskers, kames, outwash valley and a kettle pond.
The Park hours are daylight to dark daily. Terrain is rated 3 because of trimmed grass inclined paths in the site.
SIEGENTHALER-KAESTNER ESKER STATE NATURE PRESERVE - 37 ACRES
Note: Recommended Parking is at the waypoint: N 40°14.062 and W083°51.230
GENERAL NOTES
The tree lined grass path from the parking lot runs between two working farms. Do not cross the fence into either of those two farms. Also do not disturb the cattle herd if they are out on your walk to the Esker. There are bright orange fluorescent rebar markers on your left to guide you on this path. Pick up literature in the Parking lot to understand the features of the Preserve before you go on the path. This path is not suitable for wheelchair pushing unless you have arms of an Olympic Wrestler.
PATH TO FOLLOW:
The trail is a mile-long loop trail that will take the visitor to the top and around the base of the main esker. All of the glacial remnants can be viewed from this trail. No need to wander off the trail.
At the end of the path from the parking lot is the middle of the Esker. This is at N 40°013.897 and W083°51.359. Record the elevation at this point from your gps unit. Follow the path to the right (North). In following this path you will come to an Iron gate, where you can view the kames. Note the coordinates for question one below.
Turn around and take the middle path to the top of the esker. Do not take the path to the right along the western fence. Climb the middle path up to the top of the esker.
When you are at the top of the esker, look around, note, what you think, is the highest point. Go there and take the coordinates and/or elevation for question number two. You will also need this information for question number three. (See below).
GEOLOGICAL INTRODUCTION
“The till plains of western Ohio tell an interesting story of how the Wisconsinan glacier, the most recent in Ohio, created the modern landscape. The glacial remnants encountered at Siegenthaler-Kaestner-Esker State Nature Preserve in north-central Champaign County date from this period. The glacier receded from this region approximately 15-16,000 years ago.
As the glaciers receded from Ohio, they left behind many interesting land-forms which have changed very little since they were deposited. Many of them were formed by meltwater from the receding glacier rather than the ice itself. Siegenthaler-Kaestner Esker is a prime example.
An esker is a steep-sided, sinuous and discontinuous ridge of sand and gravel, a stratified glacial sediment deposited by flowing water. Eskers form in tunnels on, within, or beneath the ice. The meltwater streams flowing through the tunnels drop the coarser material melted from the ice in their beds. When the ice melts, these deposits remain to mark the course of the meltwater streams.
Eskers are usually discontinuous and this one is no exception. The ridge just south of the main esker is part of the same ancient streambed.
Kames are small knolls of stratified gravel formed in pits and crevices in the ice. Meltwater streams flowing on top of the ice dropped into these openings and deposited their sediment at the bottom.
The ridge to the west represents a separate channel cut through the ice. It is lower and wider than the main esker, which may indicate that it is made of a different mix of sand and gravel, or may reflect an unknown change of conditions in the melting ice sheet.
The small pond visible to the east of the preserve is a small kettle lake formed when a block of ice was left behind by the receding glacier. The stranded ice was surrounded by sediment carried in by meltwater. When the block melted, a depression remained in the blanket of till. Ground water seeping into such hollows often form ponds.
Eskers, kames and kettles are called "ice contact features" because they were formed in or against the ice. During the formation of this landscape, the glacier was receding northward and the meltwater streams were flowing south.
The wide, flat valley west of the eskers is an outwash channel made of gravel melted out of the glacier and deposited in sheets in front of its retreating edge. The presence of outwash and ice contact features show the ice was stagnant or in retreat when they were made. During the formation of this landscape, the glacier was melting back to the north and the meltwater streams were flowing south.
The high ground north and east of the main esker is ground moraine, which is a fairly uniform blanket of till. Till is an unsorted, unstratified glacial sediment composed of clay and rock fragments deposited beneath the ice or as a left behind when the ice melted.
Location:
Located in Champaign County, northwest of Urbana, between Urbana and Rosewood; from Rosewood follow SR 29 east 8 miles to Calland Road, proceed north on Calland Road 2.5 miles, then east on Couchman Road .5 mile to preserve entrance. Parking and trail system.
To Log this EarthCache Email us the answers to the following three questions.
1. What are the coordinates of gate for viewing the kames.
2. When you are at the top (highest point) of the esker, what are the coordinates and elevation.
3. What is the difference in feet from the bottom of the esker to the top of the esker?
You must send us the answers to get credit for this EarthCache
The above is taken from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources pamphlet for the Siegenthaler-Kaestner Esker Nature Preserve. Refer to it also for drawings of the Landscape during and after retreat of ice.
For photographs and additional information, see the Siegenthaler-Esker's URL at
(visit link)
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