Water is one of the Earth's more powerful landscapers. You would be hard pressed to find a feature on Earth's surface that hasn't been shaped by water in some form or fashion. Yet, it is also a remarkably subtle landscaper, taking hundreds, thousands, even millions of years to produce many of the geologic features we see today.
Waterfalls are a popular example of how water has shaped the Earth. Varying in shape, structure, and magnitude, they can create amazing scenic vistas while demonstrating how active our Earth is in real time. Their formation alone is an example of the power of water.
Waterfalls form when water flows over a ledge, or step, in the rock bed underneath. The speed and amount of water as it reaches this point will affect the position and shape of the waterfall. If the underlying rock is soft enough, the waterfall will slowly recede over time. If the underlying rock is hard, recession may not occur without a large volume of water and sediment flowing over the edge.
Ponds can form at the bottom of the waterfall if the rock layers at that point are soft as well. The force of the water as it hits the bottom carves away the softer rock, slowly creating what is called a plunge pool. Sediment and rocks moved around by the force of water will further carve away the underlying rock.
Another feature that can form as a result of softer rock is an overhang. This happens when the rock at the top of the waterfall is hard, but it lies on top of a much softer rock. As the water hits the water in the plunge pool, some of the water will splash back against the wall, slowly carving away the soft rock until an overhang develops. If enough soft rock is worn away over time, then the hard rock located above my begin to suffer enough stress that it eventually will break, causing the waterfall to recede even further.
Oftentimes, you will find waterfalls surrounded by canyons or gorges. When this is found, it usually means that the waterfall has been active for a long time. The canyon or gorge is formed as a result of the waterfall slowly receding during the course of it's lifetime.
If you observe enough waterfalls, you'll begin to notice just how varied they can be, and not just because of the amount of water or how tall they are. There are different types of waterfalls, determined by how the water flows through the system. Common waterfall classifications (with pictures).
- Block - Water from a wide river or stream drops over a ledge forming what appears to be a "sheet" of water.
- Cascade - Water flows down a series of steps or stages.
- Cataract - Large, powerful, and water flows with a lot of force.
- Fan - Water falls through a relatively narrow crest and spreads out and becomes wider as it descends.
- Horsetail - Water descends down, remaining in contact with the surface rock most of the time.
- Plunge - Water descends vertically without contact with the surface rock.
- Punchbowl - Water falls through a constricted area and descends down into a pool of water.
- Segmented - Pieces of land segment the river causing the water to split in separate sections as it descends.
- Tiered - Separate consecutive waterfalls in close proximity that are close enough that they are generally seen as one long waterfall.
- Multi-step - A series of waterfalls one after another of roughly the same size each with its own sunken plunge pool. Not to be confused with Tiered, which don't have separate plung pools.
It is not uncommon to find waterfalls that meet the descriptions of more than one classification. In such instances, a waterfall would be classified as both. For example, the last step of a Cascade waterfall may include a Plunge waterfall, thus classifying it as a Cascade Plunge.
Cave Spring Falls
The waterfall in Cave Springs originally received water from three tributaries. One was a former lake that has since disappeared due to the Kansas City flood in the 1950's and local construction. The following aerial photo was taken in 1931. The mentioned lake is seen in the lower left corner. The current Nature Center would be in the lower right. The road on the right site is nearby Gregory Blvd. Notice the perfectly round circles? Those are the greens of the old golf course formerly located here:
Another source was the nearby cave (located at N 38° 59.580 W 094° 29.039). This cave used to supply a considerable amount of water up until the 1940's, when the construction of a nearby church resulted in the discovery and subsequent plugging of a nearby underground spring. In 1928, it was reported that the cave spring pumped out about one million gallons of water a day. The photo below shows water coming out of the cave in the 1930's:
A third source of water was another nearby creek. This creek actually fed into the same source stream that traveled from the lake to the waterfall, adding to the water in that stream. Both this stream, and the stream from the nearby cave, converged into the single stream the provides water for the waterfall.
To Complete this Earthcache:
To complete this Earthcache, you will need several supplies. Make sure to bring with you a camera, measuring tape (or yardstick), a timer (or watch with a seconds hand), and a bucket or some other wide mouth item to measure water. Don't forget your GPSr. Send answers to #'s 1 and 2 to the cache owner. Post # 3 with your cache log.
1. Using the above classifications, identify what classification of waterfall this is.
2. Measure the amount of water flowing over the edge of the waterfall (see instructions below). This can be done in liters/hr, liters/day, gallons/hr, or gallons/day. Make sure to specify what units of measure you are using.
OPTIONAL: 3. Take a photo of yourself with the waterfall in the view.
Consider stopping by the nearby cave which helps supply water to the waterfall.
NOTE: Taking a photo is part of the original intended requirements. With the amount of camera phones out there, most people can get a quick photo. The photos are helping in documenting the waterfall, but if you are unable to obtain a photo or need help with getting the photo posted, let me know in your e-mail. I won't delete your log over not having a photo, but it can be cool to see how much variance the waterfall has in photos over the years.
Instructions for measuring water flow:
The more accurate method for you to measure the water flow is to measure how long it takes to collect a measured amount of water. This is easiest to do with a bucket. Before you go out to do this cache, make sure you know how much water the bucket can hold. If need be, measure out a set amount of water, and pour it into the bucket until close to full, then mark the water level with a marker or tape. When setting this up, I marked off a bucket at the 4 Liter point.
Once you have the necessary supplies, you have permission from the park manager to walk right up to the waterfall to make your measurements. First, get your timer ready. When ready, place the bucket under a point in the waterfall and time how long it takes to fill the bucket (or reach whatever measurement mark you previously determined). Perform this test at least twice and average, then record your times.
Next, measure the width of the bucket at the point you marked earlier. Record the width.
It is easy to get the wrong measurement for how wide the waterfall is at the point before the water starts to drop. To keep measurements more accurate across all measurements, I will provide my measurement, which was 30 inches across.
Now for some math:
- A = The amount of water in the bucket (my example was 4 Liters).
- B = The time it takes to fill the bucket with the amount of water in A.
- C = The width of the bucket
- D = The amount of times B goes into 1 minute.
To calculate the amount of water:
- Multiply A times D.
- Divide 30 inches by C.
- Multiply these two numbers together to get the amount of water that flows over the waterfall in one minute.
1 Liter of water equals .26 gallons of water.
1 Gallon of water equals 3.79 liters of water.
Park Information
Park hours:
- Park open daily, year round, from 9AM - Sunset
- Nature Center open Tuesday - Friday, 10 AM - 4 PM, Saturday by appointment
A map of the site is posted in the bulletin board near the Nature Center. Maps to take with you can be found inside the Nature Center. The waterfall is marked on the map. Please approach the waterfall from the West for the easiest approach.
Check out the Nature Center to find some cool information about the history of Cave Springs, including some important historical figures who have visited the Cave Springs area in the past.
Measurements taken while completing this Earthcache are being recorded for the park. These measurements will be used to compare the current rate of flow with the known flow rate taken in the 1930's for comparison. As such, please try to submit the date and time you took your measurements. The park manager informed me that he has seen the flow rate vary and is quite interested to see what numbers come out of this earthcache.
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