West Bend's Interlobate Moraine Lookout EarthCache
West Bend's Interlobate Moraine Lookout
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This is not your typical geocache; it is an EarthCache. Instead of looking for a "cache container" you will be brought to a geological feature. This EarthCache is to commemorate West Bend's Third Annual $1000 Cache Ba$h Mega Event.
ABOUT THIS LOCATION: This EarthCache is located in Royal Oaks Park; streetside parking available on Auburn Rd. at N 43 26.320 W 088 09.997. City park hours: 6:00 am -11:00 pm. Sorry, dogs are not allowed in West Bend city parks. You will need to visit this earthcache during daylight hours in order to answer visual questions. There are several trails leading up to the listed coordinates to the lookout. While at the lookout, have a seat on the park bench located south of the trail.
GEOLOGICAL INFORMATION: You are on a glacial feature called a moulin kame which was slightly altered to accommodate this popular sledding hill. (GC1WYT2 has a very large kame.) Looking SSW from this vantage point there is a ridge of hills that is part of what is considered the most significant glacial feature in this entire region, the Kettle Interlobate Moraine. Formerly called Kettle Range and the Kettle Moraine, the more specific term emphasizes the importance of its location between two lobes of the glacier.
In the distant past there were also long episodes of glaciation. The recent Ice Age or Pleistocene Epoch of the Quaternary Period began about two million years ago with the continental glacier called the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Each major climate cycle includes a glacial and interglacial period and averages 100,000 years. The last major advance of the last cycle of the Wisconsin Stage of glaciation arrived in Wisconsin about 26,000 years ago, reaching its furthest extent 18,000 years ago. It retreated from this part of the state by 11,000 years ago leaving glacial features that are indeed world famous.
This glacier consisted of a number of lobes. The Green Bay Lobe sculpted the area on the far side of the ridge as it spread southward and outward over soft Paleozoic rocks such as Maquoketa shale of Ordovician age. On the side of the ridge, you are on the western edge of the Lake Michigan Lobe. It moved down the forming Lake Michigan basin through weak sedimentary rocks and traveled faster and further south than the Green Bay Lobe.
The ridge you see is part of the over 100-mile long and one to ten mile wide region with relief of 100 to 300 feet that is our Kettle Interlobate Moraine. That is where these two lobes made contact. From what they directly deposited and with the combined energy of their meltwaters, they created spectacular kames and kettles and other glacial features for you to enjoy. Depending upon the time of year you are here, you can enjoy the wildflowers, the butterflies, perhaps a hawk soaring overhead, and of course the oak trees.
EARTHCACHE INFORMATION: Bring your camera, compass, and binoculars. To receive credit for this earthcache please do the following:
1) The elevation at the listed coordinates is ____________ft.
2) Looking from the park bench, set your compass bearing to 215 degrees (SSW). Briefly describe the man-made structure you see off to the distance (using your binoculars may be helpful).
3) Briefly describe the glacial feature you see at the horizon on both sides of the man-made structure.
4) From the geological information included with this EarthCache you have determined that the glacial feature in the distance is part of the ________________.
5) (Optional) Take a picture of your GPS'r with part of the park bench and you/group if possible. Include the picture with your found it log.
To get full credit, e-mail your answers to Niens.
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Treasures
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