Horseshoe Lake EarthCache
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Horseshoe Lake
Welcome to the northern shores of Horseshoe Lake. A 2,400 acre oxbow lake , remnant of a large meander of the Mississippi River, it is today a shallow, isolated patch of water located near Granite City and the western part of Illinois. Horseshoe Lake is situated in a low flood plain. This flood plain follows the Mississippi River down to the Kentucky border. Before the present system of levies was constructed, heavy spring floods would cause the river to overflow its banks. It would sometimes change directions and cut a new channel through these bottomlands. During this process an old river section was cut off from the flowing channel forming a natural oxbow lake. Horseshoe Lake was formed in this manner.
All lakes, whether man-made or natural, begin to fill in with sentiment as soon as they are formed. Particles of soil called silt are carried in the wind and in water runoff from nearby fields and ditches. Generally, older lakes fill in to become more shallow than new lakes. Horseshoe Lake is a very old lake as illustrated by its three-foot depth. Up and down the length of the River you can find features like this one, that the mighty Mississippi has carved on its way to the Gulf of Mexico.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
An oxbow lake is a U-shaped lake water body formed when a wide meander from the mainstem of a river is cut off to create a lake. This landform is called an oxbow lake for the distinctive curved shape that results from this process. In Australia, an oxbow lake is called a billabong. By itself, the word oxbow can also mean a U-shaped bend in a river or stream, whether or not it is cut off from the mainstream.
A meander in general is a bend in a sinuous watercourse, also known as an oxbow loop, or simply an oxbow. A stream of any volume may assume a meandering course, alternatively eroding sediments from the outside of a bend and depositing them on the inside. The result is a snaking pattern as the stream meanders back and forth across its down-valley axis. When a meander gets cut off from the main stream, an oxbow lake is formed. Over time meanders migrate downstream, sometimes in such a short time as to create civil engineering problems for local municipalities attempting to maintain stable roads and bridges.
To get credit for this cache you must do complete the following with in 7 days of logging your find..
1. Take a photo of yourself along with your GPS at the posted coordinates with the Lake in the background.
2. Email me with this information: What is your estimate of the width of the lake and the height of the nearside bank at this location and did you detect any evidence of sandbars present? Do not post this in your logs.
Thanks
The ClarkBowman Clan
Additional Hints
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