Chautauqua County Drainage Divide Earthcache EarthCache
Dove78: time to archive - trail is not being maintained any longer
Chautauqua County Drainage Divide Earthcache
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(other)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
This cache is located on part of the Rails to Trails in Chautauqua County. The trail is mostly gravel with some wet spots. Enjoy your walk.
This cache takes you along the old Jamestown Westfield Railroad line. In September 1914 the railroad changed hands and was turned into an electrically powered trolley line primarily for the movement of passengers. This was the last interurban trolley to operate in New York State. In January 1950 JW & NW Railroad abandoned the line from Jamestown to Westfield. The right of way was sold and now all the old rail bed is privately owned. The Chautauqua Rails to Trails have gained permission from the landowners to maintain the trails for public use.
The portage escarpment where this cache is located divides the Erie-St. Lawrence drainage basin from the Allegheny-Ohio drainage basin. A drainage basin is an extent of land where water from rain or snow melt drains downhill into a body of water, such as a river, lake, dam, sea, wetland or ocean. The drainage basin includes both the streams and rivers that convey the water as well as the land surfaces from which water drains into those channels. The drainage basin acts like a funnel – collecting all the water within the area covered by the basin and channeling it into the waterway. Each drainage basin is separated topographically from adjacent basins by a ridge, hill or mountain which is known as a drainage divide.
Precipitation in the form of rain and snow has four options: it can evaporate back into the atmosphere; it can flow as runoff into a stream; it can soak into the ground where it is used by plants; or it can seep deep into the earth as groundwater. Drainage basins can be both large and small. For example, a small stream in a rural neighborhood may have a tiny watershed. In contrast, the Mississippi River’s watershed covers almost two-thirds of North America.
A small stream high in the mountains watershed may consist of a few underground springs and precipitation runoff from the land just above it. As the stream flows downhill, it enters successively larger bodies of water, including a bigger stream, a river, perhaps a lake and eventually the ocean – all of which have correspondingly larger watersheds. As snow melts and flows over rocks, the runoff dissolves minerals in the rocks and contributes to the weathering process. Water sheds aren’t located just in mountains, forests, or plains, but can also be in parking lots, school yards, meadows and even your own back yard.
Larger watersheds contain many smaller watersheds. It all depends on the outflow point; all of the land that drains water to the outflow point is the watershed for that outflow location. Watersheds are important because the stream flow and the water quality of a river are affected by things, human-induced or not, happening in the land area “above” the river outflow point.
To claim credit for this cache, from the sign at the above coordinates, send me the answers to the following three questions. 1) Where does the precipitation that falls north of this location flow? 2) Where does the precipitation that falls south of this location flow? 3) Tell me two other drainage divides in New York State.
Thank you for doing my earthcache. I hope you have enjoyed learning about drainage basins and divides. Enjoy your walk along this beautiful trail.
I request that you email your answers to me on the same day that you log your “found it” log. (This does not have to be the day you visit, just the day you log the find on the computer.)
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)