GC1EQTW Phinizy Swamp Oxbow Lake (Earthcache) in Georgia, United States created by CarolinaDiesel

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A cache by CarolinaDiesel Message this owner

Hidden : 7/30/2008

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Size: Size: not chosen (not chosen)

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Geocache Description:

Phinizy Swamp Nature Park is located in Richmond County, Georgia. It is being developed and operated by the Southeastern Natural Sciences Academy, a private, nonprofit organization. The Academy's mission is to promote environmental stewardship through education, research, public outreach and conservation. These programs support the Academy's goal to promote sustainable natural resource management, economic growth balanced with environmental protection. With 1150 acres and just minutes from downtown Augusta, Phinizy Swamp Nature Park offers you the chance to see great blue heron, red-shouldered hawk, river otter, and the elusive alligator in their natural setting. Hear the chorus of a thousand tree frogs, delight in the iridescence of summer dragonflies, and view the splendor of natural wetlands.

Phinizy Swamp features several large ponds designed to allow nature to filter contaminants out of water from the nearby municipal sewer plant. While the wetlands are artificial in creation, there’s nothing artificial about the cattails, grasses and cypress trees or the variety of wildlife they attract. Hikers can explore several short interpretive trails around the visitors center. Pick up a trail guide with educational information about the many stopping points along the trail. Bikers get an interesting view, too, gazing down from the miles of berms separating the ponds. The gravel, dirt or grass roads on the berms are ideal for mountain bikes. Wildlife flocks to the ponds, and the park serves as a hotel for hundreds of migrating species. You might spot gators, otters or turtles in the ponds. Bobcats lurk in the woods. Reptiles and birds are everywhere.

The Phinizy Swamp Nature Park is open:
Monday through Friday: Noon to Dusk
Saturday and Sunday: Dawn to Dusk

http://www.phinizyswamp.org/images/trailmap_regular_size-300.jpg

Click map for larger view.
This Earthcache will take you to the 3 Ton Bridge in the Phinizy Swamp Nature Park. This bridge crosses an oxbow lake that was formed by the Savannah river. An Oxbow lake is a small lake located in a former meander loop of a river or stream channel. It is generally formed as a river cuts through a meander neck to shorten its course, blocks off the old channel, and then migrates away from the lake. If only one loop is cut off, the lake is crescent-shaped; if more than one loop is cut off, the lake is serpentine (like the one here at Phinizy Swamp). Eventually, oxbow lakes silt up to form marshes and finally river scars(like the ones down the River Scar Trail that begins just past the 3 Ton Bridge).

Please pick up a Park Map before starting your trip. You can reach the 3 Ton Bridge by taking either the Constucted Wetland Trail from the Phinizy Swamp Campus, or by taking Beaver Dam Trail to the Green Trail then taking the right side of the Pond Trail . This hike will take about an hour round trip(or more if you go slow and enjoy the wildlife), so please carry water.

Formation of an Oxbow Lake

A gently meandering river flows through an area of relatively flat terrain.
Water flows at different speeds as it goes around bends in a meandering river. On the outside banks of corners, the river water moves the fastest, causing lateral erosion and undercutting.
Meanwhile, on the inside banks of corners in the river, the water flows more slowly, leading to sediment settling out of the water and building up on the inside banks. This process is called deposition.
Gradually, the inside banks are filled in with accumulated deposits, and the outside bends extend further and further, forming a wide loop in the river.
The loop continues to bend further and further, until a thin strip of land called a neck is created at the beginning and the end of the meander.
Eventually, the narrow neck is cut through by either gradual erosion or during a time of flooding. When this happens, a new straighter channel is created, diverting the flow of the river from the loop into the new channel.
Deposition finally seals the cut-off from the river channel, leaving a horseshoe-shaped oxbow lake. If more than one loop is cut-off from the river then the lake will be serpintine. The water in the oxbow lake is no longer refreshed by the river, transforming the habitat from one supporting river life to one that is hospitable to pond life.

The requirements for logging this cache are as follows:

1. Upload a picture of you or your group at any point in the Phinizy Swamp Nature Park that you like (find a beautiful location).
(If you don't have a camera, please come and do this cache anyway. The picture is really optional.)

2. How wide is the Phinizy Swamp Oxbow Lake at the 3 Ton Bridge?(One way to measure this is to make a waypoint on the bridge as you get over the edge of the water, then walk across the bridge to the other edge of the lake and read how far away you are from your first waypoint.)

3. How far away from the Savannah river are you while standing on the 3 ton bridge. (The Savannah rivers closest point is at N33* 24.177 ; W081* 56.738.)

4. What kind of wildlife did you see while visiting the park?(This answer can be posted on your log if you want to.)

As per earthcache rules, logs not accompanied by an email with the answers to the cache questions will have to be deleted. Please do not post answers with your log.