GLEN LAKE
A familiar site located on Glen Lake Road. This is quite an amazing place. Glen Lake is famous for its ability to appear almost "Carribeanish" with crystal clear, aquamarine surf and a sand bottom. The lake holds some huge fish, including remarkable specimens of the common lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) and the smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu). Believe it or not, the maximum depth of Little Glen is only 7 feet, while the maximum depth of Big Glen is over 150 feet!
Also of interest, there are several shipwrecks in the nearby vicinity, including the Francisco Morrison (see picture below)
The Francisco Morrison
Glen Lake is actually two lakes, believe it or not, Little Glen, to the west, and Big Glen to the east. The two lakes were connected during the 1900's to accommodate boating and recreational water traffic.
There are many different types of lakes. An oxbow lake is formed when a river over floods its banks, creating a diverted channel. A crater lake is a volcanic crater which has caved in and then filled up with rain water. A rift lake is a large lake formed when two tectonic plates pull away from each other, creating a rift valley, which quickly fills with rain water. Glen Lake is a completely different lake. It is called a bar lake. Bar lakes are formed when a larger lake deposits sediment, in this case sand, to form a sand bar, blocking off part of the lake, forming another lake. This same process can be observed just a few miles away at North Bar Lake. The exact same process is taking place here. Therefore, geologists were able to interpret that Glen Lake was once part of Lake Michigan.
What gives Glen Lake its natural beauty?- One possible explanation is that the answer can be found with how the lake formed. As sand blacked up the entrance to Glen Lake from Lake Michigan, it quickly settled. A very small amount of sediment still stayed suspended, though. As sunlight hits these particles, they reflect a tranquil shade of blue called aquamarine.
TO LOG THIS EARTH CACHE AS A FIND, YOU MUST:
-Take a picture of you and your GPS (or just your GPS) with Glen Lake in the background.
AND TO DEMONSTRATE THE EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF THIS EARTH CACHE, E-MAIL THE ANSWERS TO THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS VIA MY PROFILE:
1. Use the container that you brought with you and take a sample of the water from Glen Lake. Let it settle for a small amount of time and then examine it. What is floating in it? What sinks to the bottom? What is the color/clarity?
2. Using your data from question 1, make inferences and draw a conclusion. Explain in YOUR OWN OPINION what you think gives Glen Lake its clarity and natural beauty and why you think that is. Sedimentation? Settled Sediment? Salinity Levels?
3. What is the elevation at the coordinates? This will help us know the amount of sand deposited forming the bar between the two lakes. 4. Name at least two types of lakes.
5. What type of lake is Glen Lake?
Good luck and happy hunting!
geocachescout317 is a Platinum Earth Cache Master
