There are two locations for this EarthCache: Park Entrance/Part A: N 39 06.812; W 076 48.402
Part B: N 39 06.577; W 076 48.618
The trail is packed dirt, changes elevation slightly and is wide and well-established at the beginning and narrows approaching Part B.
Rivers all over Earth bend, meander and snake as they make their way to larger water bodies. In the process, the snaking rivers carve away soils, rocks and sediment along some riverbanks and deposit the material along others. As the rivers carve out sediments and the shoreline along the outside or concave side of the bend, they deposit the material and sediment along the inside or convex side of the bend. The process of carving out sediments is called erosion and the process of depositing sediments elsewhere is called deposition that results in accretion or the gathering of sediments. As these bends form, it causes the water to slow down.
Over time, these bends in rivers can become so large that the faster way for water to move is to cut a straight channel through the neck of the riverbend. This can happen slowly over time or during a flood. Once this happens, the riverbend is cut off and becomes what is known as an oxbow lake. Over time, these lakes can transform into shallow marshes or forests and the main channel of the river that used to connect to the oxbow lake may migrate away.
The Oxbow Nature Preserve in western Anne Arundel County was previously a riverbend of the Little Patuxent River. The Little Patuxent River is one of the three largest tributaries of the Patuxent River. A tributary is a stream that flows to a larger stream or body of water. The waters of the Little Patuxent River eventually reach the Chesapeake Bay. The oxbow lake at the Oxbow Nature Preserve has been cut off from the river for a number of years and is now an approximately 70-acre wetland and lowland wood swamp. This wetland and lowland wood swamp is one of Maryland’s wetlands of special state concern (WSSC). A WSSC is a wetland that is one of the best examples of non-tidal wetland habitats in the state and often contains some of the last remaining populations of native plants and animals that are now rare or threatened with extinction.
Today, the Oxbow Nature Preserve provides visitors with trails and vistas from which to enjoy walking, hiking, and wildlife viewing. Wildlife you are likely to either encounter or see evidence of include waterfowl, snakes, fishes, frogs, beavers, birds, deer and small mammals.
To learn more about Maryland’s Wetlands of Special State Concern, you can visit: (visit link)
To learn more about the fact that Maryland has no natural lakes, you can visit: (visit link)
To log this EarthCache, please post a picture (it could also include either you or your GPSr) looking out over the water near the second set of coordinates/additional waypoint and correctly answer the following questions. Do not post pictures that provide information necessary to answer the questions to log the cache; photos and logs that do so will be deleted. Logs without sending answers will be deleted without notice.
Submit your answers to the following questions using the ‘send a message’ feature by clicking my username at the top of this EarthCache posting. Round trip walk on this cache is approximately 0.6 miles.
1) Archaeological studies in this area show evidence that Native Americans used this area as far back as 8,000 years ago. Before a section of the Little Patuxent River was cut off to form this oxbow lake, what did the river and surrounding area of today’s oxbow lake provide to them?
2) Upon arriving at the entrance and first set of coordinates, walk to the bank’s overlook. Estimate the bank height on this side of the oxbow lake.
3) Look across the oxbow lake – is the bank on the other side lower or higher? Based on this assessment, are you standing on the concave or convex side of the former river bend, which is now the oxbow lake?
At the entrance to the preserve (at given coordinates), there are two directions that you can walk. Take the trail to the left or walk in the direction of the second, final waypoint, and walk approximately 0.3 miles, staying on the trail.
4) Once you arrive at the second set of coordinates, describe the condition of the trees in this area and what happened to them or is currently in progress. How might this affect the oxbow lake?
Additional information about the Oxbow Nature Preserve or the organizations that support its preservation and monitoring may be found at:
(visit link) (visit link) (visit link) (visit link)