Iroquois Park Dry Waterfall EarthCache

	Iroquois Park Dry Waterfall

The listed coordinates will take you along side the upper cascade of a 3 cascade waterfall.   There is an easy access path from the road above.   The path starts behind a concrete foundation of where a picnic shelter house previously stood.  

Upper Cascade		Middle Cascade

This is a good example of an ephemeral stream waterfall.  What I call the upper cascade is actually a small plunge water fall with it's tiny plunge pool below.  During wetter periods of the year this waterfall will continue to dribble water long after rain storms, but the small stream will disappear before it gets to the cascades down below.   Unless you are here during periods of heavy rain, you unfortunately won’t see the actual cascade waterfall.  The creek at this elevation has a small drainage basin and flows only during and shortly after precipitation.  What is of note to the area is a good example of the Kenwood Siltstone rock exposure and a small but interesting type of rock shelter that's not very common to this area.  

The Kenwood Siltstone member is part of the Borden Formation which is located above the New Providence shale member at about the 670 to 740 foot elevation in the park.  The siltstone is characterized by clayey, sandy appearance with light to medium gray color that weathers yellowish gray.  The siltstone beds in this member can be up to14 feet thick separated by beds of clay shale similar to that found in the underlying New Providence member.  In general the siltstone and embedded shale in the Kenwood siltstone formation is courser grained than the underlying New Providence member.  This formation extends south into Bullitt County and is exposed in multiple areas through out the Jefferson Memorial Forest. 

As you may already know at one time the Louisville area was a shallow ocean.  It is speculated that during the early Mississippian geologic period the distinct layering of shale and siltstone of the Kenwood member was caused by seismic shocks from earthquakes in an area to the east.  The Kenwood siltstones were deposited from sediments carried by bottom flowing currents that descended swiftly down the under water slopes as a result of these earthquakes.

The occurrence of fossils in the Kenwood siltstone member is uncommon but bryozoans have been found.  What is of interest to this formation is the occurrence of Scalarituba Missouriensis.  These tube like casts are believed to have been made by some species of marine worm which lived in great abundance in shallow water, probably in the tidal flats.  The worms burrowed through the sediments while eating and passed the sediment through its digestive track.  Its excretion helped form a chevron or scale like pattern within the burrow.   If you look carefully at the top of the second cascade and surrounding area you can see some of these worm like casts.

The Kenwood Siltstone has been used in the Iroquois Park area for building foundations and home facings.  It has been used in the park for guard rails and steps.  Stone quarried from the top of neighboring Kenwood hill has been used in buildings like the Broadway Baptist Church and the Old Kaufman building located at 4^th street live.

To get credit for this Earthcache post a picture of yourself at the dry waterfall (or wet if you like rain) and send an email to Mooseky@gmail.com  with the answers to the following questions.

1.  What type rock do you see just below the Siltstone lip of the upper cascade?
2,  What is the approximate length, width and height of the small rock shelter?
3.  What is the total approximate height of the waterfall including its three cascades?

References:
Geologic Map of Parts Of The Louisville West And Lanesville Quadranges, Jefferson County Kentucky by Roy C. Kepferle – 1974.
The Encyclopedia of Louisville by John E. Kleber – 2000.
Scalarituba Missouriensis And Its Stratigraphic Distribution by James E. Conkin and Barbara M. Conkin - 1968.
A View From The Top by Stefanie Rae Buzan and Rosemary Hauck McCandless – 2007.