First, Second & Third Order Streams EarthCache EarthCache
First, Second & Third Order Streams EarthCache
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This EarthCache is at the Oden State Fish Hatchery-- an amazing place to visit, with trails and ponds and informational signs. They also have a cut-away stream type of an aquarium at this location where a First Order Stream meets a Third Order Stream. As an EarthCache there is no 'container' to find, but instead you find something interesting about the geology of the area.
To receive credit for this 'find' please submit the answers to the following questions to my profile. PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR ANSWERS SOON AFTER YOU LOG or I may need to delete it. DO NOT place the answers in your log !!!--or I MUST delete.
PARKING AT N45 25.494 W084 50.788 off Oden RD
FTF: Honors to South Lyon Trekkers
REQUIREMENTS:
1- Would this stream be classified as perennial or ephemeral?
2- What man-made object is located nearby?
3- Where this first order stream meets this third order stream, what order is it now? (at the location where u r standing)
4- Submit a pic of youself at this location if you wish.
Try Greater Petoskey Area earthCache Challenge at GC2HRCN
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First, Second & Third Order Streams are the beginnings of the Great Lakes - like Lake Huron in this case.
Streams are areas where water flows down a gradient into a channel, either intermittently or year round. They are classified as perennial (continual) or ephemeral (seasonal), according to this characteristic. They are also classified by the order in which they join oher streams. This is usually an indication of their size. Surface hydrologists are scientists who study, among other things water-releted, streams mnd other forms of flowing and non-flowing water on the earth's surface.
FIRST ORDER STREAMS, like the one here are the smallest and often the shortest. They have no other streams joining them and are the starting point/s for larger streams and rivers. These stream types usually have steeper gradiants than others in the area. First order streams are the most abundant type.
SECOND ORDER STREAMS occur when two first order streams meet. It is at this location that a second order stream is created. These streams may or may not be longer than first order streams. When a second order stream is joined by another first order stream, the classification remains as a second order stream.
THIRD ORDER STREAMS form at the conflence of two second order streams. Just as before, if a third stream is joined by a second order stream the classification remains a third order stream. Needless to say, third order streams are less abundant than second or third order streams.
Needless to say, a fourth order stream is formed where two third order streams meet.
Water, when flowing from these first, second and third order streams usually contain less pollutants than higher order streams but the faster moving water erodes the landscape more quickly than slower moving water. Although that is not the case at this location.
Visualize a tree and the small twigs attached to the smaller branches. First order streams are the 'twigs' and second order streams are the 'smaller branches'. This analagy could continue to the third and fourth order as the tree also has larger branches then limbs etc.
This classification system has no definite end but is limited by terrin and the size of the area.Very large rivers my be seventh to twelfth order waterways.
These particular streams are very typical of a first ,second and third order stream. It has a fairly steep gradiant and the channel varies from shallow at the upper portion to somewhat deeper as it progresses down stream.
When you look at the channel it is easy to see that this is the starting point for much of the sediments that make larger streams and rivers appear 'muddy' especially after a heavy rain. As the water is flowing down the gradiants, it carries with it sediments of varying sizes and deposits them at some lower elevation. River and stream banks are mostly composed of sand or mud. The finest sediments such as clay and silt travel the fartherest any may help to form deltas, such as at the mouth of the Mississippi River.
These streams where you stand flow into Crooked Lake which then becomes the Crooked River. The Crooked River empties into Burt Lake which then flows to Mullet Lake via the Indian River. The Cheboygan River flows out of the Mullet Lake and FINALLY into LAKE HURON. This great watershed is served by many hundreds of first, second and third order streams.
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