Oyster Bay Bubbler EarthCache
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At one time there were many springs along the North Shore, many of these were actually artesian (flowing) wells. Many of these wells were found in public and easily accessible locations, and people could be observed lining up by the side of the road to fill a personal water bottle or several large jugs.
One well that comes to mind was located on the north side of Oyster Bay Rd. in Cove Neck. Another artesian well was on Garvies Point Rd. in Glen Cove. Yet another was at the end of South Street in Oyster Bay. As Nassau County became more "urbanized", the shallow ground water that these wells and springs tapped became contaminated with cesspool waste, nitrogen, and pesticides and herbicides from lawn treatments. The wells were closed; first with plywood (which was quickly broken by people seeking access to the water within) and later, they were permanently dismantled and sealed, and unfortunately, no trace of them now remains.
Such natural spring wells still do exist on the North Shore; some of them are in the backyards of homeowners on private land. I suspect that anyone with a flowing well that was accessible to the public has since had the well capped for fear of the public drinking contaminated ground water.
None of the these springs are now thought to be safe to drink from. This water comes from the surface water table that is perhaps 50 to 60 feet. They are from the upper glacial aquifer so the water percolates out of the hills on the north shore and the cesspools of the north shore.
However, the water that nearby Sea Cliff and Glen Head gets is from the Lloyd Aquifer that is about 6000 feet below the surface and is 6,000 year old glacial water. The Lloyd Aquifer is the deepest and oldest of Long Island's aquifers. It is a sand and gravel formation ranging in thickness from zero to five hundred feet. At its deepest, it is 1,800 feet below the surface. The water contained in the Lloyd aquifer is about six thousand years old. Not many wells tap this formation and New York Environmental Conservation Law §15-1528 establishes a moratorium on the use of water from this formation in order to maintain it for future generations.
Some definitions to help you understand what you are going to see:
Natural spring : A spring is any natural occurrence where water flows on to the surface of the earth from below the surface. Thus it is place where the aquifer surface meets the ground surface.
An artesian well: This well allows water that has traveled through porous rock from a higher elevation to rise to the surface. It may be natural well or a well dug by humans. This 'pumpless' well seems to defy gravity because the pressure that builds up between layers of rock gets relieved when the water finds a path to the open air.
An aquifer: provides the water source for an artesian well. This is the layer of permeable rock, like limestone or sandstone, that absorbs water from an inlet path. Porous stone is sandwiched between a top and bottom layer of an impermeable substance, like clay soil or shale rock, this keeps the water pressure high allowing it to emerge at the surface.
Basically, these beautiful and once-functional natural wells have disappeared from public view... or have they?
There is one natural well that can be seen bubbling up through the sand at Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Park/Beach in Oyster Bay. It is the only remaining publicly accessible "bubbler" in Oyster Bay. The trick to making this find is that it is visually and tactually observable ONLY at LOW TIDE. The posted coordinates will bring you to a stone retaining wall in the park. (see photo in gallery; the people on the beach are standing right next to GZ).
If you come to this location at LOW TIDE (see tide table provided at (visit link) you should see a dark "puddle-like" spot in the sand. Look and listen carefully, and you should see and hear the water bubbling out from the sand. The short video provided should give you an idea of what to look for. I took the video at LOW TIDE. (visit link) MMacgown, Sakiman and Dog and Bear and I put heads together at GZ and figured out that you can access this cache for 3 hours before and 2 hours after the time indicated as LOW TIDE.
We also discovered that the bubbler "looks different" at different times of the day, different weather conditions, different water table levels, and depending on how the sand grooming trucks drove over the area ... so you might want to bring along a child's rake or small trowel to help you get to the good stuff. It would be interesting if you noted in your log the time you were there, and a brief description of what GZ looked like... and/or an optional photo.
Since a CO can no longer request photos as responses to questions for an earthcache, you will be on the honor system to log this as a true find. If you HONESTLY see the water bubbling up through the sand at LOW TIDE, log it as a legit find. If you arrive at a time other than LOW TIDE, you won't see it... so the right thing to do would be to post a note that you were there.
To log this earthcache and claim a piece of history as one who has viewed the last of the great bubblers in Oyster Bay, answer the following questions via an email message to the CO:
1. Estimate the diameter of the "bubbler puddle."
2. How high above the sand does the water rise as it bubbles upward?
3. Did you see a natural spring or an artesian well? Explain.
Ample parking is available at the beach, but it is not free- the cost per day for residents of the Town of Oyster Bay is $10 during the time between June 25 and Labor Day (or access with a TOB beach sticker). The better thought is to park in the train station lot (aka Fireman's Field) and walk the 2 minutes to the beach. And, at the time of this earthcache development, there were several geocaches in this memorial park, so don't miss gathering those smilies during your visit to the Oyster Bay Bubbler!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
YBJ GVQR
Treasures
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