Creation Falls Earth Cache is a beautiful water fall located
along the Rock Bridge trail. In front of the falls you will find a
large bed of sand, soft enough to walk barefooted in. The sand is
from the sandstone formations all along the Red River Gorge
Geologial Area. It accumilates in front of these falls. This is
almost like paradise and very peaceful. Take the time to enjoy this
spot when visiting.
Creation Falls is a geological formation resulting from water,
often in the form of a stream, flowing over an erosion-resistant
rock formation that forms a sudden break in elevation or
nickpoint.
Some waterfalls form in mountain environments where the erosive
water force is high and stream courses may be subject to sudden and
catastrophic change. In such cases, the waterfall may not be the
end product of many years of water action over a region, but rather
the result of relatively sudden geological processes such as
landslides, faults or volcanic action.
The rock that the water flows over is composed of Middle
Pennsylvanian aged quartz arenite from the Corbin Sandstone Member
of the Lee Formation.The sandstone is medium to coarse grained and
weathers to a grayish orange. It contains numerous cross beds which
dip to the south west and large liesegang bands. There is also a
conglomerate layer that contains liesegang bands and half inch
sized quartz pebbles. The matrix is fine grained and dark gray to
black in color. This layer is unconformable at its base and grades
up into sandstone. Heavy weathering has led to the erosion of less
resistant material.
Typically, a river flows over a large step in the rocks which may
have been formed by a fault line. Over a period of years, the edges
of this shelf will gradually break away and the waterfall will
steadily retreat upstream, creating a gorge of recession. Often,
the rock stratum just below the more resistant shelf will be of a
softer type, meaning undercutting, due to splashback, will occur
here to form a shallow cave-like formation known as a rock shelter
or plunge pool under and behind the waterfall. Eventually, the
outcropping, more resistant cap rock will collapse under pressure
to add blocks of rock to the base of the waterfall. These blocks of
rock are then broken down into smaller boulders by attrition as
they collide with each other, and they also erode the base of the
waterfall by abrasion, creating a deep plunge pool.
Streams become wider and more shallow just above waterfalls due to
flowing over the rock shelf, and there is usually a deep pool just
below the waterfall because of the kinetic energy of the water
hitting the bottom.
This Earth cache has been placed with exclusive permission from the
Daniel Boone National Forest Recreation Director. Always ask for
permission before setting up a Earth Cache.
To get credit for this EC, post a photo of you with GPS At the
listed coordintes with Creation Falls in the background. Please
answer the following questions.
1. How long and tall is the falls?
2. What type of rock does the water falls travel over?
3. What geological formation is to the right of the falls?
| Cav Scout has earned GSA's highest
level |
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Logs with no photo of the actual cacher logging the find or
failure to answer questions will result in a log deletion.
Exceptions will be considered if you contact me first (I realize
sometimes we forget our cameras or the batteries die). Logs with no
photos will be deleted in seven days of posting.
I have used sources available to me by using google search to
get information for this earth cache. I am by no means a geologist.
I use books, internet, and asking questions about geology just like
99.9 percent of the geocachers who create these great Earth Caches.
I enjoy Earth Caches and want people to get out and see what I see
everytime I go and explore this great place we live in.