Paint Lick Creek Watershed: Early Source of Salt EarthCache
Paint Lick Creek Watershed: Early Source of Salt
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Lancaster Road crosses Paint Lick Creek
PAINT LICK CREEK WATERSHED:
An Early Source of Salt
This earthcache is in the village of Paint Lick. Today's
Paint Lick is the descendant of the settlement of Fort Paint Lick
which was located nearby. Paint Lick was settled in the 1770s
on both sides of the Paint Lick Creek, where an early trail crossed
the creek. Its name derived from settlers' descriptions of
the stones and peeled tree trunks painted with Indian symbols in
bright colors along the creek and around the nearby salt lick
spring. Early settlers in the area obtained their salt from
these same licks which were frequented by men, deer and other
animals. The settlers boiled the water from the salt springs
in 40-inch cast iron pots until only the solid content was
left. They called the pots "salts."
A salt lick is a salt deposit that animals regularly lick. In
an ecosystem, salt/mineral licks sometimes occur naturally,
providing the sodium, calcium, iron, phosphorus and zinc required
in the springtime for bone, muscle and other growth in deer and
other wildlife around the world, such as moose, elephants, cattle,
woodchucks, domestic sheep, fox squirrels, mountain goats and
porcupines. Harsh weather exposes salty mineral deposits that
draw animals from miles away for a taste of needed nutrients.
A natural salt lick lures moose to the shores of Hidden
Lake
Particular to this area, the underlying limestone topography is a
place where salty, often sulfurous, water emanates like a spring
from the ground. As the water evaporates, the salt
impregnates the soil surrounding the spring, and wild game come to
these areas to lick salt from the ground. Fifteen to twenty
thousand years ago during the Wisconsinan glaciation, animals moved
along the front of the ice sheet looking for places like Big Bone
Lick, Kentucky to get needed salt. They often became trapped
or mired in the surrounding bogs where their bones were buried and
preserved.
Paint Lick Creek is not only a source of spring fed salt
licks. It is the primary collector for a watershed that runs
some 18 miles and drains 109 square miles.
Paint Lick Creek 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
PAINT LICK CREEK WATERSHED: A Member of the Lower
Subbasin of the Kentucky River Basin
Paint Lick Creek 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 Paint Lick Creek watershed lies along the
Madison County-Garrard County line. The upper reaches of the
watershed lie in the outer subregion of the Bluegrass physiographic
region, characterized by undulating terrain, moderate to rapid
surface runoff, and moderate rates of groundwater drainage.
The lower part of the watershed 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. Parts of the watershed lie over interbedded shales
and limestones (these are 20% limestone; water conduction is poor
because of the clay content of the shale). Other areas are
underlain by interbedded limestones and shales (>20% limestone,
allowing groundwater flow where the clay content is low
enough).
Paint Lick Creek Watershed
Waterways
Paint Lick Creek empties into the Kentucky River at the juncture of
Fayette, Madison, and Garrard Counties. Among the creeks that
feed it in Garrard County are Walnut Meadow Branch, White Lick
Creek, Frog Branch, Lowell Branch, Broadus Branch, Long Branch, and
Back Creek. Dog Walk Branch, Gilead Branch, Wheeler Branch,
and Sledd Branch are among its Madison County tributaries.
Land and water use
The assessed creek segments in this watershed include one segment
that only partially supports its designated uses, based on
biological and/or water-quality data. Pathogens from
agricultural sources contribute to the impairment of the
streams.
Paint Lick Creek Watershed Detail
Watershed Highlights
- The Paint Lick Creek watershed covers 109 square miles.
- Pathogens partially impair contact recreation in Paint Lick
Creek from its mouth to Back Creek.
- Groundwater is substantially more sensitive than the basin
average.
- Livestock density is substantially higher than the basin
average.
DIRECTIONS
From Richmond, proceed west on Lancaster Road (Hwy. 52) to the town
of Paint Lick. The EarthCache can be found near downtown
Paint Lick.
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 Paint Lick
Creek in the background (like my photo above) and please answer the
following questions.
- What is the elevation at this location?
- How wide is Paint Lick Creek at this location?
- What is at the top of the wall of the building you are standing
beside?
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, Kentucky
Historical Society, and Conservation Ontario.
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