WR1-2 R U Bluffing? EarthCache
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This cache is located in Sands Point Preserve, a Nassau County Park. The preserve is open all year, 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. A Preserve admission fee of $2.00 is collected on weekends.
Over three-quarters of a mile of shoreline containing high bluffs that overlook Long Island Sound form the eastern boundary of Sands Point Preserve.
Geologically speaking, Long Island’s north shore is considered a coast of submergence or a coast where erosion occurs. This is in opposition to the south shore of Long Island, where sand is generally deposited during relatively low energy summer seasons.
Here, the sediment at the base of the bluffs is composed of loose sand and gravel deposited by glacial meltwater streams about 20,000 years ago. The top of the bluff is composed of a firmer layer of ice-deposited glacial till, which is unsorted material that can range in particle size from clay to boulders.
As sand and gravel erode out from the base of the bluff where it is exposed to the action of high energy waves like those from our winter Nor’Easters, the face of the bluff becomes unstable. Gravity then causes material from the face and top of the bluff to slide down toward the water to replace the material that was swept away. This process, called mass wasting or slumping, temporarily stabilizes the face of the bluff, until the next time erosion occurs.
In this manner, the north shore of Long Island has been steadily moving landward, depositing the large boulders or glacial erratics that line our north shore and forming cobble and gravel beaches, rather than the fine sand beaches we see on the south shore.
The clay-ey till east of the pilings is home for a colony of bank swallows that dig nest burrows as deep as three feet into the cliff. They dive and soar over the summer beach, plucking insects from the air.
Cormorants, large dark-colored sea-birds that swim underwater to catch small fish, are usually seen on the old pier sunning and drying their wings. Gulls, terns, ducks, and sandpipers are abundant during much of the year. Hawks, including an occasional osprey, often soar over the beach or perch on cliff-top trees, while egrets and herons wade in the low-tide shallows, grabbing fish in their long bills.
Horseshoe crabs, calico crabs, spider crabs, moon snails, razor clams, and whelk egg cases are among the varied life forms found in the inter-tidal beach zone.
Shoreline plants include saltwort, sea-rocket, seaside goldenrod and beach clotbur. Above the high tide, beach grass, switch grass, crown vetch, and Japanese black pines help slow erosion and provide food and cover for wildlife.
If you come to Sands Point preserve, take the time to visit the exhibits or the historic buildings and take a hike in the forest or along the beach.
For more information:
(visit link)
www.sandspointpreserve.org
The CO’s for this cache take you to a place at the base of the bluff. However, this cache can be done on the beach, anywhere at Sands Point Preserve, as long as you are at the base of the bluff.
In order to log this cache, you must send the cache owner an e-mail with an estimate of the height of the bluff. Please don’t post the answers on the cache page.
On the cache page, please post a photo of your GPS’r at a location somewhere along the base of the bluff, showing where you made your measurement.
Please respect the rules of the Preserve and please don't climb or walk on the bluff. It causes more erosion.
As an additional exercise, but it doesn't count for the cache, you can also try to estimate how long it would take the bluff to erode back to Hempstead House (the large stone mansion) if the rate of erosion was 1 foot a year. (The rate that Montauk Point was eroding).
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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