Minnesota River Valley EarthCache
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In order to count this Earthcache as a find, you must complete the following tasks and email the answers to me.
1. What is the elevation on top of the glacial debris?
2. Estimate, in feet, how high up you think this moraine extends from the river valley below it.
3. Estimate the width of the Minnesota River.
This Earthcache is located high up on a hill (also known as glacial debris) and provides a picturesque overlook of the Minnesota River Valley. The river gets its name from two Lakota words: “minne,” meaning “water,” and “sota,” meaning “sky-tinted” or “cloudy sky.” The name refers to the milky-brown color the river’s waters take on when at flood stage. Check out the nearby monuments and don’t forget the camera!
The glacial history of Minnesota is most defined since the onset of the last glacial period, which ended some 12,000 years ago. Within the last million years, most of the Midwestern United States and much of Canada were covered at one time or another with an ice sheet. This continental glacier had a profound effect of the surface features of the area over which it moved. Large amounts of rock and soil were scraped from the centers of the glaciers to its outer edges, or margins, by the slowly moving ice. This debris was redeposited as drift or till. Much of this drift was dumped into old, preglacial river valleys, while some of it was heaped into belts of hills at the margin of the glacier. The most important result of glaciation has been the modification of the preglacial topography by the deposition of drift over the country side. Along with depositing the glacial debris, glaciers also eroded away parts of the landscape, leaving behind cuts in the earth that would later be filled with water.
Perhaps the most significant change in the topography of this region was the drainage system. Before glaciers, geologists and scientist believe most of the rainwater and meltwater from the snow was quickly carried back to the ocean. Today, some of the water still makes it back to the ocean at a much slower speed; however, the majority of the precipitation is retained on the surface in the form of lakes. Eventually, as streams meander their way from lake to lake, some of this water is picked up and carried to rivers, which is then carried back to the ocean. Because the streams that act as the middle-man in returning water to the ocean have not yet been able to grow and develop into a network that quickly and efficiently drains the land, the majority of the precipitation remains in lakes. Minnesota is home to hundreds of these young, immature streams that have yet to fully develop.
During the last ice age, glaciers to the north blocked the natural northward drainage of present-day Minnesota. Because the water had no where to go, it pooled up right behind the glaciers. As the ice melted and added water to the already existing pool of water, it developed into a lake. This lake gained so much water that it overflowed and carved a massive river valley in order to drain the lake. Through this large river valley flowed the Glacial River Warren.
Today, the Glacial River Warren no longer exists. When the glacial river retreated, it left a broad valley with a much smaller stream. That stream today is known as the Minnesota River. The valley through with the Minnesota River flows today was carved out by the ancient River Warren. In places, the valley is five miles wide and 300 feet deep--remnants of the ancient river that once flowed here. The Minnesota River covers approximately 332 miles beginning at its origin at Big Stone Lake and ending in Minneapolis where it drains into the Mississippi River.
NOT A LOGGING REQUIREMENT: Feel free to post pictures of your group at the area or the area itself - I love looking at the pictures.
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