Wilson Dam EarthCache
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The following cache will bring you to the Southern side of Wilson Dam. Here you will find a man made Hydrologic Modification.
Whether you notice it or not, water is continuously on the move all around us. It’s falling to the land in the form of precipitation. It’s moving across landscapes making its way to streams. Streams are running to rivers and rivers are running to oceans. Water is the ultimate recycled element thanks to the hydrologic cycle, which constantly moves water from the atmosphere–down to the planet’s surface and then back into the atmosphere. Wilson Dam is the only neoclassical-style dam in the TVA system, integrating themes of ancient Roman and Greek architecture into the modern structure. The construction of Wilson began in 1918, a year after the United States entered World War I. The federal government built two nitrate plants at Muscle Shoals for the making of explosives, and Wilson Dam was constructed to supply the electricity needed to power the plants. TVA acquired Wilson Dam in 1933.
The site boasts a network of hiking and walking paths, including Old First Quarters Small Wild Area, named after a complex that housed engineers during Wilson’s construction. Small feeder creeks run through the natural area, forming an ideal habitat for a variety of ferns, including the walking fern, a rarity in Alabama. Visitors also enjoy camping, boating, and fishing at Wilson Reservoir. The area is known as the Smallmouth Capital of the World for the trophy smallmouth bass caught there.
Wilson Reservoir, together with Pickwick and Wheeler Reservoirs, covers the treacherous Muscle Shoals, which once blocked navigation on the Tennessee River.
The Tennessee River takes an unusual northward course just west of here in west Tennessee. Clues as to why the river doesn't simply flow south to the Gulf of Mexico or west toward the Mississippi lie in the flow of the ancestral Tennessee River. Based on geologic studies of river terraces, it seems that years ago the ancient Tennessee River flowed westward, following the modern Hatchie River and flowing into the Mississippi north of Memphis. Later a shorter northward flowing stream may have intersected the Tennessee River. In a process known as stream piracy, that stream may have diverted the Tennessee River into its own northward flowing channel. Stream piracy is a phenomenon occurring when a stream or river drainage system or watershed is diverted from its own bed, and flows instead down the bed of a neighbouring stream. This can happen for several reasons, including tectonic earth movements, damming, or by erosion.
To log this cache, you will have to complete a few requirements. All requirements must be done with in 3 days of logging or it will be deleted.
1) Take a picture of yourself or your geocaching group with the dam in the background.
2) Calculate the flow rate in "Feet Per Second" for Tennessee River at this location. This may be done by measuring a distance along each of the rivers banks, floating an object from your starting point to the ending point, and recording the time it takes the object to float the distance. Once the "Distance" and "Time" are determined, calculate the "Feet Per Second".
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)