Kanaka Creek EarthCache

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Hidden : 9/26/2010
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
2.5 out of 5

Size: Size: not chosen (not chosen)

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Geocache Description:

Nestled over to the side of the Lougheed highway in the outskirts of Maple Ridge, past the train tracks, is Kanaka Creek regional park, which covers most of the course of the river. The creek's headwaters are located in the southeast corner of Golden Ears provincial park.

The regional park management has provided several informative signs at the mouth of the creek highlighting the historical precedence, ecological importance, and fluvial processes that shape the area into its colorful greens and browns. This earthcache will hopefully facilitate cachers and their families and friends to stopover and learn something they may not have known about this creek and earth science in general.
Kanaka Creek: A 15km long tributary of the Fraser River located in Maple Ridge, which is subjected to perpendicular tidal forces. A regional park has been created along the corridor of the creek, which includes a fish hatchery and some interesting waterfalls. Fishing has become a popular activity at the confluence with the Fraser.

Kanaka Creek, being a late-stage tributary of the Fraser, does not have a great gradient. Rather, its headwaters start on a broad ridge bordering the southeast corner of Allouette Lake, elevation approx. 900m, making its grade only 6%. This low grade provides the meandering characteristics of the river in the latter half of its course through Mission and Maple Ridge.

Around 49° 12.615'N 122° 31.445'W there begins a change in underlying material, as a seam of volcanic rock that was once connected to Grant Hill has been revealed by the creek's erosion of Pleistocene glacial till. This has created a step-pool waterfall phenomena named Cliff Falls. Due to this rougher patch, Kanaka Creek deposits its heavier sediment load of gravel and heavy sand behind the falls, and continues on with only a lighter bedload of light sand, silt and clay. This lighter material deposited towards the creeks mouth at Maple Ridge, and facilitates the formation of very sinuous meanders, and the possibility of future oxbow lakes.

Wetlands comprise the final kilometer stretch, where unique insects, aquatic organisms, and avian life flourish due to filtered nutrients and toxins. This floodplain contains soil that is comprised mainly of light sand, silt and clay which was mentioned previously. This composition is perfect for absorbing and holding lots of water which creates a seasonal marsh-like wetland. Only plants that don't mind wet feet (flooded roots) can survive here.

Fraser River: The longest river in British Columbia, and the tenth longest in Canada. Named for 19th century pioneer Simon Fraser, the river is nearly 1400 kilometers long and dumps an estimated 20 million tons of sediment into the Straight of Georgia every year.

Important Fluvial Terms

Capacity - A measure of the total load of material a stream can move in all transport methods.

Cut bank - The outside and downstream side of the meander. Faster water velocity flows there.

Discharge -The volume of water flowing past a given point/cross section in a specified length of time. Usually measured as meters/second.

Estuary - Where the mouth of a river broadens into the sea and within which the tide ebbs and flows, leading to an intermixing of saline and freshwater, Estuaries are usually zones of deposition, especially if the river discharges more sediment than can be moved by tidal currents or wave action.

Floodplain - A broad, fairly flat expanse of land covered with sediment around a stream channel. An area into which the stream spills over during floods.

Load - The total quantity of material that a stream transports by all methods (traction, saltation, suspended, and dissolved).

Meander - Streams don’t flow in straight lines, they erode old banks and create new banks, and thus bends form in the streams. Meanders are curves in a stream (or river).

Meander scars - A cut-off in which the former river channel or oxbow lake has been partially infilled by slumping of the channel walls and by vegetation growth. The meander form is usually still distinguishable.

Oxbow lake - Crescent-shaped lake occurring on a river floodplain, having once been part of a river meander that has been cut through and abandoned by lateral erosion of the cut banks at the meander neck.

Point bar - Sediment deposited on the insides of meanders, due to slow-down in water velocity there.

Sediment grain size - Various sizes of solid particles and grains of rock that have been transported and deposited by varying means, but not in solution. Below are broad classifications of size, in which there are further minute classifications. In order of individual grain size from smallest – largest:
  • Clay – less than 0.004mm
  • Silt – greater than 0.004mm but less than 0.0625mm
  • Sand – greater than 0.0625mm but less than 2mm
  • Gravel/Pebble – greater than 2mm but less than 64mm
  • Cobble – greater than 64mm but less than 256mm
  • Boulder – greater than 256mm


Sinuosity - Stream channel length divided by length of meander belt axis or by valley length. Sinuosity of 1.5 is dividing point between straight and meandering.

Tidal bore - A tidal phenomenon in which the leading edge of the incoming tide forms a wave that travels up a river against the direction of the river current. It is a true form of a tidal wave and not to be confused with a tsunami.

Watershed - The land surface which is drained by a unitary river system. Its perimeter is marked by a drainage divide, which is usually an encompassing height of land.

Wetland - An area that has developed specially adapted vegetation due to long dominance by water and saturated soil. Wetland organic & inorganic processes are largely controlled by static or flowing, brackish or saline water. Wetlands are considered the most biologically diverse of all ecosystems, consisting of a unique plethora of animal, plant and aquatic organisms.


Logging the Earthcache:

In order to claim this earth-cache, please email Vadrosaul (via the profile link at the top of the page) with answers to the following questions. Although it is optional, pictures of you, your group at the earthcache site, and the surrounding landscape would be appreciated:

1. From the posted coordinates, determine which way Kanaka Creek is flowing, towards the head or the mouth, and deduce why it is flowing that way.

2. How long do you think it will take to erode the cut bank and create an oxbow lake here?

3. From the Fraser viewpoint waypoint, estimate how wide the Fraser River is at this point. How much of British Columbia does the Fraser drain?

4. What mountain signifies the start of the Fraser Rivers' headwaters? What is unique about that mountain?

5. Proceed to Cliff Falls waypoint that's listed. Answer the following (referring to the step-pool waterfall formation): How many steps and how many pools do you see here? What's the average length of the pools?

References

John B. Whittow - Dictionary of Physical Geography
Dr. Johannes Koch - Fluvial Processes & Landforms
Metro Vancouver - Kanaka Creek Regional Park
Metro Vancouver - Kanaka Creek Management Plan
Geological Survey of Canada - Vancouver's Landscape: Fraser River
Fraser Basin Council - Fraser River Basin
Slaymaker, O. - Implications of the Processes of Erosion & Sedimentation for sustainable development in water management in the Fraser River System. Vol. 1, U. B. C., 1991 (FL).

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