GC1VNME Boundary Bay Earthcache (Earthcache) in British Columbia, Canada created by Jearsy

This cache has been archived.

jearsy: The second and third stages are gone due to the new pump station. As a result this earthcache would require a substantial revision which would change the original design too much.

Thank you for everyone who visited this location throughout the years.

GC1VNME ▼

A cache by Jearsy Message this owner

Hidden : 7/9/2009

Difficulty:

Terrain:

Size: Size: not chosen (not chosen)

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Geocache Description:

Welcome to beautiful South Delta! This Earthcache will have you take a nice little walk along a secluded beach area in Tsawwassen and learn a few things about a vital part of how the Metro Vancouver landscape was formed and what role it plays for the wildlife

The area of Boundary Bay is located on the Pacific coast of North America on the border between the province of British Columbia and the state of Washington. To the north lies Boundary Bay and the municipality of Delta with the communities of Beach Grove and Boundary Bay and to the south lies the communities of Crescent Beach and Ocean Park in the City of Surrey.

A floodplain, or a mud bay as in the case for this Earthcache, is flat or nearly flat piece of land that is adjacent to a stream or river that experiences occasional or periodic flooding. In this case this particular area has for thousands of years, even before there were was even aboriginal settlement, used to be a site of major floods that would happen every year ever since the end of the last Ice Age, which was about 18,000 years ago. It wasn’t until the arrival of the Europeans in the late 1800s that the flooding slowed down because of the extensive network of dikes and floodways.

When a river breaks its banks and floods it leaves behind layers upon layers of rock, mud and silt. These layers gradually build up to create the floor of the flood plain or a mud bay. Floodplains or mud bays generally contain unconsolidated sediments, which are often extend far below the bed of the stream or river.

A Mud Bay consists of thick deposits of soft, unconsolidated (unorganized) silty clay and sand, which has been saturated with water for a long time. These soil layers are situated at the bottom of certain estuaries (a semi-enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it), which are normally found in temperate regions that have experienced various glacial cycles over a long period of time.

The typical bulk density of a mud bay is approximately 1.3 grams per cubic centimeter. Mud Bays often have a high organic content, which could consist of decayed organisms at lower depths and living creatures when they occur at the upper soil layer and become exposed by low tides. When the tides are low they are called mudflats and that is an important ecological zone for shorebirds and many other types of marine because of the wealth of food it can provide. Coincidentally there wasn’t much attention given to the importance of deeper mud bays around North America until the 1960s and 1970s when development began to encroach on certain North American bays, which then brought the importance of protecting various Mud Bays such as Boundary Bay in Tsawwassen.

When the mud layer is exposed at the tidal fringe, mudflats provide a unique ecozone that affords numerous shorebird species a safe feeding and resting habitat. Because the mud’s functions much like quicksand, heavier mammalian predators not only cannot gain traction in pursuit of their prey, but would actually become trapped in the sinking muds. The muds are also an important starter for primary marsh productivity including the growth such as pickleweed. Furthermore they are home to a large variety of molluscs and estuarine arthropods.

Boundary Bay is an important stop for birds migrating along the Pacific Flyway Corridor and because of this it has been designated a Hemisphere Reserve by the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network and a Canadian Important Bird Area because during the height of migration times the bird count in the bay may exceed well over 100,000 individual birds during the day. The Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network is a conservation strategy targeting shorebirds int he Americas from 1985. Its aim was to protect the nesting,breeding and staging habitats of migratory shorebirds. Mammals such as the Harbor seal may use mudflats to haul out of estuary waters;however, larger mammals such as Humpback or Orca Whales may become accidentally stranded at low tides. It is however still unknown asto whether or not this happens by accident or if it was done intentionally.

To get the credit for this Earthcache you will need to go to three different spots and answer the following questions for each.

Stage #1

#1 What river has been depositing sand and silt in this bay for thousands of years?
#2 What community used to be an island thousands of years ago?
#3 Name three other locations that have been formed because of the river deposits?

You now head to N 49° 01.463 W 123° 03.157 for the next stage

Stage 2

#4 How many shore birds are found in the Western Hemisphere?
#5 Name at least three different kinds of birds that are in this area

Now go to N 49° 01.474 W 123° 03.210 to answer the final questions

Stage 3

#6 What plant lies just below the ocean’s surface?
#7 What does it do to the river’s current?
#8 What kind of animal life do these plants attract?

Once you have answered these questions email me the answers along with a picture of yourself at any one of these locations so you can get the credit in the find.
Also this is an Earthcache so there is no container, or small item that you will be looking for. Once you have reached GZ all you need is your GPS, Camera, and well...... your brain.
Happy Caching!

p.s. Congratulations to Henderbugs for the FTF!!

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Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Znxr fher lbh gnxr lbhe gvzr gb rawbl gur ivrjf nsgre lbh svavfurq ernqvat.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)

This cache has been archived.

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Boundary Bay Earthcache EarthCache

This cache has been archived.

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Geocache Description:

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