Kentucky River 205 060 Watershed EarthCache
Hidden : 12/23/2008
Difficulty:
1 out of 5
Terrain:
1 out of 5

Size: Size: not chosen (not chosen)

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Kentucky River 205 060 Watershed

WHAT IS A WATERSHED?


A watershed is a drainage basin.*  It’s an extent of land where water from rain or snow melt drains downhill into a body of water, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea 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, and is separated from adjacent basins by a drainage divide.  The drainage basin acts like a funnel, collecting all the water within the area covered by the basin and channeling it into a waterway.  Each drainage basin is separated topographically from adjacent basins by a geographical barrier such as a ridge, hill or mountain, which is known as a water divide.

In the technical sense, a watershed refers to a divide that separates one drainage area from another drainage area.  However, in the United States and Canada, the term is often used to mean a drainage basin or catchment area itself.  Watersheds drain into other watersheds in a hierarchical form, larger ones breaking into smaller ones or sub-watersheds with the topography determining where the water flows.

*  Other terms that are used to describe a drainage basin are catchment, catchment area, catchment basin, drainage area, river basin, water basin and watershed.


GEOMORPHOLOGY


Understanding geomorphology is essential in understanding how watersheds interconnect.  In hydrology, the drainage basin is a logical unit of focus for studying the movement of water within the hydrological cycle, because the majority of water that discharges from the basin outlet originated as precipitation falling on the basin.  A portion of the water that enters the groundwater system beneath the drainage basin may flow towards the outlet of another drainage basin because groundwater flow directions do not always match those of their overlying drainage network.  Measurement of the discharge of water from a basin may be made by a stream gauge located at the basin's outlet.  Rain gauge data is used to measure total precipitation over a drainage basin, and there are different ways to interpret that data.  If the gauges are many and evenly distributed over an area of uniform precipitation, using the arithmetic mean method will give good results.  In the Thiessen polygon method, the watershed is divided into polygons with the rain gauge in the middle of each polygon assumed to be representative for the rainfall on the area of land included in its polygon.  These polygons are made by drawing lines between gauges, then making perpendicular bisectors of those lines form the polygons.  The isohyetal method involves contours of equal precipitation are drawn over the gauges on a map.  Calculating the area between these curves and adding up the volume of water is time consuming.

Drainage basins are important elements to consider also in ecology.  As water flows over the ground and along rivers it can pick up nutrients, sediment, and pollutants.  Like the water, they get transported towards the outlet of the basin, and can affect the ecological processes along the way as well as in the receiving water source.  Modern usage of artificial fertilizers, containing nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, has affected the mouths of watersheds.  The minerals will be carried by the watershed to the mouth and accumulate there, disturbing the natural mineral balance.

The catchment is the most significant factor determining the amount or likelihood of flooding.  Catchment factors are:
  • topography,
  • shape,
  • size,
  • soil type, and
  • land use (paved or roofed areas).

Catchment topography and shape determine the time taken for rain to reach the river.
Catchment size, soil type and development determine the amount of water to reach the river.


Watershed Topography



Topography
Topography determines the speed with which the runoff will reach a river.  Clearly, rain that falls in steep mountainous areas will reach the river faster than flat or gently sloping areas.

Shape
Shape will contribute to the speed with which the runoff reaches a river.  A long thin catchment will take longer to drain than a circular catchment.

Size
Size will help determine the amount of water reaching the river, as the larger the catchment the greater the potential for flooding.

Soil Type
Soil type will help determine how much water reaches the river.  Certain soil types such as sandy soils are very free draining and rainfall on sandy soil is likely to be absorbed by the ground.  However, soils containing clay can be almost impermeable and therefore rainfall on clay soils will run off and contribute to flood volumes.  After prolonged rainfall even free draining soils can become saturated, meaning that any further rainfall will reach the river rather than being absorbed by the ground.

Land Use
Land use will contribute to the volume of water reaching the river, in a similar way to clay soils, only faster.  Rainfall on roofs, pavements and roads will be collected by rivers with almost no absorption into the groundwater.


Basin Management Map



Kentucky River Basin



Kentucky River Subbasins



Kentucky River 205 060 Watershed:  A Member of the Lower Subbasin of the Kentucky River Basin


The Kentucky River 205 060 watershed is part of the Lower Subbasin of the Kentucky River Basin.  The Lower subbasin of the Kentucky River stretches from Madison County north to Carroll and Gallatin Counties.  The Kentucky River 205 060 watershed includes parts of the following counties: Clark, Madison, Fayette, Jessamine, and Garrard.  The land is in the hills of the bluegrass subregion of the Bluegrass physiographic region, characterized by hilly terrain, very rapid surface runoff, and slow groundwater drainage.  The northern side of the watershed lies above thick layers of easily dissolved limestone that form carbonate aquifers.  Groundwater flows through channels in the limestone, so caves and springs are common in regions with this geology.  The southern side includes areas of interbedded shales and limestones (these are 20% limestone; water conduction is poor because of the clay content of the shale) and areas of interbedded limestones and shales (>20% limestone, allowing groundwater flow where the clay content is low enough).


Kentucky River 205 060 Watershed



Waterways
This watershed includes the Kentucky River from Lower Howard Creek (Lisletown) to just below Lock and Dam Number 8.  Among the creeks that feed it are Jouett Creek, Calloway Creek, Elk Lick Creek, Raven Run, Marble Creek, Stony Fork, and Davis Creek.  Water from the Kentucky River 205 005, Lower Howard Creek, Otter Creek, Boone Creek, Tate Creek, Silver Creek, Paint Lick Creek, and Sugar Creek watersheds also flows into this watershed.


Land and water use
Land in the watershed is about two-thirds agricultural and nearly one-third rural and wooded.  The surface waters of the watershed supply the drinking water for municipal systems in Lexington, Nicholasville, and Lancaster.  Eight businesses and organizations hold permits for discharges into the creeks.


Kentucky River 205 060 Watershed Detail



Watershed Highlights
  • The Kentucky River 205 060 watershed covers 82 square miles.
  • The watershed provides drinking water for Lexington (Kentucky-American Water Co.), Nicholasville, and Lancaster.
  • Water supply is a critical issue.
  • Groundwater substantially more sensitive than the basin average.
  • Livestock density is substantially higher than the basin average.

GEOLOGY


The bedrock in the Bluegrass Region of Kentucky is composed of limestones and shales from the Ordovician Period (510 to 440 million years ago).  Much of the Ordovician strata lies buried beneath the surface.  The oldest rocks at the surface in Kentucky are limestones from the Late Ordovician Period (approximately 450 million years ago), which are exposed along the Palisades of the Kentucky River.  The Palisades can be seen from this road.  They are the vertical rock walls you see towering on the other side of the river and approximately 0.7 miles south of this location.  The Kentucky River has cut down through multiple layers of the following types of ancient Ordovician limestone.

Tanglewood Limestone Member No. 1 (Lower Tongue)

Primary Lithology: Limestone (calcarenite)
Limestone (calcarenite), medium-light-gray to brownish-gray, fine- to coarse-grained fossil-fragmental, sparry calcite-cemented, partly phosphatic; in very thin to thin, even to slightly irregular beds, crossbedded in part; irregularly bedded fossiliferous limestone similar to Grier Limestone Member below common in upper few feet; thick-shelled brachiopods common in calcarenite; to north and south unit passes laterally into Grier Limestone Member by intertonguing.  Unit thins and is not shown south of Kentucky River.

Lower part of Lexington Limestone
(Lower Ordovician - Middle Ordovician)

Cane Run Bed:
Primary Lithology: Limestone and chert
Limestone and chert: Limestone, medium-light-gray, micrograined, commonly with included lenticles of dense, dark-gray to medium-gray chert.  Unit is present only in west-central part; pinches out to east, north, and south.

Grier Limestone Member:
Primary Lithology: Limestone
Limestone, medium-light-gray to medium-gray, cryptograined to coarse-grained, fossiliferous throughout; lower half of unit consists of zones of nodular fossiliferous limestone with some gray shale partings interbedded with thin resistant beds of medium- to coarse-grained fossiliferous limestone; resistant beds are thicker and somewhat more closely spaced in upper part of unit.  Upper third commonly contains zones of thin-bedded cryptograined to micrograined, gastropod-bearing limestone.  Upper 20 to 25 feet of unit intertongues with calcarenite of the lower tongue of the Tanglewood Limestone Member.  Locally contains stromatoporoids near top.   Contact with underlying Curdsville Limestone Member is gradational with thick bedding sets of calcarenite (similar to those common in the Curdsville) occurring as much as 50 feet above Tyrone-Lexington contact.

     Fossils:
Fossil collection AA of silicified float from upper Grier Limestone Member 40 to 55 feet below base of Brannon Member, on west side of U.S. Highway 227, 0.4 mile south of Ford-Hampton road intersection yielded the following: Brachiopods, Hebertella frankfortensis Foerste, Heterorthina macfarlani Neuman, Rafinesquina trentonensis Conrad, Sowerbyella sp., Zygospira sp.; gastropods, Cyrtolites retrorsus (Ulrich in Ulrich and Scofield), Sphenosphaera cf. S. clausus (Ulrich in Ulrich and Scofield), bellerophontacean indet. cf. Sphenosphaera, Carinaropsis cymbula Hall, Liospira sp. indet., Clathrospira subconica (Hall), Loxoplocus (Lophospira) burginensis (Ulrich in Ulrich and Scofield), Murchisonia (Hormotoma) salteri? salteri (Ulrich in Ulrich and Scofield), pelecypods, Ambonychia sp. indet., Ctenodonta socialis Ulrich, Deceptrix sp.? pteroid pelecypod, modiomorphid fragments,? cyrtodontid pelecypod.

Curdsville Limestone Member:
Primary Lithology: Limestone (calcarenite)
Limestone (calcarenite), medium-light-gray to brownish-gray, fine- to very coarse grained fossil-fragmental, sparry-calcite-cemented, partly phosphatic; in thin, even beds, partly crossbedded; very thin tabular beds of micrograined limestone, common with included lenticules of dense, medium- to dark-gray chert, widely spaced throughout unit; abundant whole fossils or large fossil fragments in some beds.  Sharp basal contact is placed at top of underlying cryptograined limestone except at one locality north of Clays Ferry where 4-inch-thick bentonite bed at contact is included with Tyrone Limestone.

Tyrone Limestone and Oregon Formation
(Lower Ordovician - Middle Ordovician)

Tyrone Limestone:
Primary Lithology: Limestone
Limestone, light-brownish-gray to light-yellowish-gray, dominantly cryptograined (lithographic, micritic), with conchoidal fracture; in thin to thick even beds.  Some beds are composed of cryptograined limestone with included tubules and blebs of sparry calcite, commonly oval or circular in cross section (birdseye limestone).  Other beds are cryptograined limestone mottled with dark patches or bands that contain diffuse microscopic specks of opaque material.  Upper half of unit includes thin zones of argillaceous limestone and several beds of cryptograined limestone interlaced with finger-like bodies of brownish-yellow dolomite lithologically similar to interlaced limestone and dolomite commonly found in the Camp Nelson Limestone.  A 4-inch-thick bentonite bed directly underlying the Lexington Limestone was seen in a culvert west of Interstate 75 just north of its crossing of the Kentucky River.  Another bentonite bed, roughly 20 feet below the upper contact, is nearly one foot thick and may persist throughout the area.  Lower third of unit intertongues northeastward with upper part of Oregon Formation.

Oregon Formation:
Primary Lithology: Calcareous dolomite
Calcareous dolomite, brownish-orange to brownish-yellow, fine- to medium-crystalline dolomite rhombs with calcite cement (rock effervesces strongly in dilute hydrochloric acid), generally occurs in thick, even-surfaced beds and bedding sets some of which show lamination when weathered; certain zones, mottled and banded in shades of orange and gray, are similar in pattern to mottled zones in the overlying Tyrone.  Where streams cross thick zones of dolomite waterfalls are common.  Here steep cliffs or undercut faces are carved in the weathered dolomite by exfoliation and spalling of curved, smooth-surfaced tablets and blocks.  In most areas the Oregon consists of a basal unit of thick, blocky bedded dolomite, 25 to 35 feet thick, commonly marked at or near basal contact by a thin layer of poorly resistant, argillaceous dolomite; an intermediate unit of cryptograined limestone in part interlaced with finger-like bodies of dolomite, a few very thin beds of dolomite, and, at least locally, at the top an argillaceous unit containing at its base a 6-inch-thick bed of pale-green swelling bentonite (approximately 38 feet above base of Oregon); and an upper unit of even-bedded, very fine to medium-crystalline dolomite with a few cryptograined limestone interbeds.  In the north this upper unit is as much as 15 feet thick.  In the southwest it thins and intertongues with the Tyrone, and beyond its pinchout the top of the Oregon was mapped on top of the thick basal dolomite unit.

Camp Nelson Limestone
(Lower Ordovician - Middle Ordovician)

Camp Nelson Limestone:
Primary Lithology: Limestone and dolomite
Limestone and dolomite: Limestone, light-brownish-gray, cryptograined; dolomite, brownish-yellow, very finely crystalline to medium crystalline, occurring as irregularly shaped finger-like blebs in limestone.  When viewed in the plane of bedding some dolomite inclusions exhibit dendritic branching though most show no regular pattern; differential weathering of dolomite and limestone gives rise to honeycomb weathered surfaces characteristic of this lithologic type; contains several zones of tabular-bedded cryptograined limestone and less resistant argillaceous limestone in upper part.  A thin zone of cryptograined limestone was seen well down in the Camp Nelson near the mouth of Jouett Creek. Base of unit not exposed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


In addition, 0.7 miles south of the posted coordinates, a fault runs on an east-west line that separates the 'Lower part of Lexington Limestone' surface layer on the north side from the 'Clays Ferry Formation' (interbedded clay shale, limestone, and siltstone) which overlays the 'Upper part of Lexington Limestone' layer.  This change can be seen as you drive north towards this earthcache along Athens-Boonesboro Road (Hwy. 418).  Looking west at the far side of the river valley, you will see the near vertical Palisades give way to steeply sloping terrain as the Kentucky River makes a turn to the west.


DIRECTIONS
From I-75, take exit 95 and proceed east on Boonesborough Road (Hwy. 627).  Cross the bridge over the Kentucky River and enter Clark County.  Immediately turn right onto Ford-Boonesboro Road (Hwy. 1924).  Immediately turn right onto Athens-Boonesboro Road (Hwy. 418).  Proceed to the EarthCache which is opposite "Hall's on the River" restaurant.




DO NOT LOG AS A FIND UNTIL YOU HAVE A PICTURE READY TO POST.  To get credit for this EC, post a photo of you (I do not accept pictures of just a hand) at the posted coordinates with the Kentucky River in the background (like my photo above) and please answer the following questions.
  1. What is the elevation at this location?
  2. How wide is the Kentucky River at this location?
  3. While facing the Kentucky River look to your right.  What lies down river from your location, near the shore?

Do not wait for my reply to log your find.  I will contact you if there is a problem.  Logs with no photo of the actual EarthCacher/Geocacher (face must be included) 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 without notice.  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, the Internet, and ask questions about geology just like 99.9 percent of the geocachers who create these great Earth Caches.

Reference:  Kentucky Geological Survey, and Conservation Ontario.

Congratulations to   Ammosuperman   for the FTF!

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