Iverson Spit Preserve EarthCache
Hidden : 9/3/2009
Difficulty:
1 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size: not chosen (not chosen)

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Geocache Description:


In order to claim this EarthCache:
1. Post a picture of you, or your group, (not your dogs/pets, toys etc) with your GPS at the specified coordinates with the spit behind you.
2. Please send me an email and include the answers to the following questions: A. Name the type of grass that creates an excellent hiding place from predators? B. What is the color of the sand at the spit?
3. Do NOT include this information in your logs.
4. BOTH the email with the answers and the picture of you are required to claim this as find. Please remember that as required for Earthcache listings, incomplete logs will be deleted. An incomplete log is:
A.) Not sending an e-mail to me with correct answers to the questions above. B.) Not posting the required picture with your on-line log

How is a Spit Created?
A spit is a type of bar or beach that develops where a re-entrant occurs, such as at cove's, bays or river mouths, by the process of longshore drift. Longshore drift (also called littoral drift) occurs due to waves meeting the beach at an oblique angle, and backwashing sand or gravel perpendicular to the shore, moving sediment down the beach in a zigzag pattern. Longshore drifting is complemented by longshore currents, which transport sediment through the water alongside the beach. Where the direction of the shore turns inland the longshore current spreads out or dissipates.

No longer able to carry the full load, much of the sediment is dropped. This causes a bar to build out from the shore, eventually becoming a spit. If the supply of sediment is interrupted, the sand at the neck (landward side) of the spit may be moved towards the head, eventually creating an island. If the supply isn't interrupted, and the spit isn't breached by the water, the spit may become a bar, with both ends joined to land, and a lagoon behind the bar.

In the formation of a spit, sediment will continue out into the lake or ocean until water pressure (such as from a river) becomes too much to allow the soil to deposit. The spit may then become stable and often fertile. A marsh is likely to develop in the sheltered water behind the spit.

About Iverson Spit:
Iverson Spit is a 300 Acre county natural area with salt water, mud flats, beach, marsh, shrubs, agricultural land and a forested hillside.

This consummate stretch of shoreline had collected the complete set of substrate: mud (a lot of mud) some sand, gravel and cobble, not too mention a vast set of tinker toy logs that perhaps rivals the Elger Bay collection in total numbers.

A popular location for bird watching, Iverson Spit has over 125 species of birds that live or visit here. Dependable sightings include Bald Eagles, Pileated Woodpeckers, Chestnut-backed Chickadees which stay year round. Migrations bring shorebirds, songbirds while loons, geese, ducks winter over. Common Yellowthroats, Rufous Hummingbirds, and Swainson’s Thrushes are here spring through fall; Cedar Waxwings and Caspian Terns come for summer. Spring and fall migrations bring shorebirds and warblers. In winter, look for Common and Red-throated Loons, Brant, Peregrine Falcons, and Long-tailed Ducks.

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