Eramosa Karst EarthCache
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Welcome to the Eramosa Karst Earthcache. The Eramosa Karst is a provincially-significant Earth Science Area of Natural and Scientific Interest(ANSI-ES). The posted coordinates will get you to parking, and all other areas that you need to visit have been referenced. A very special thanks to surly2 for walking with me and gathering all of the information needed to make this Earthcache possible.
To log this Earthcache as a find, you must visit each of the 5 reference points (also listed below) and answer the questions associated with each one. They can be done in any order, however, I have included them in the order in which I walked it. You are looking at approximately a 2.5km hike on these awesome trails. Please feel free to upload any pictures that you take on your adventure, but please remember not to include any spoilers. Any logs that contains spoiler pictures will be deleted. Please email me with the answers to the questions, and log as a find. I will delete logs where the incorrect answers have been sent.
1. Signs
N 43° 11.216 W 079° 48.696
What are karren?
2. Potruff Homestead
N 43° 11.232 W 079° 48.575
What is the shape of the karren in the middle rock that is on the ground, in front of the foundation?
3. Nexus Cave Window
N 43° 11.124 W 079° 48.165
What is the fifth word on the bench, and what does this mean?
4. Nexus Cave Entrance
N 43° 11.079 W 079° 48.122
Optional: Take a picture of yourself, or your GPS at the cave entrance.
5. Potruff Cave
N 43° 11.056 W 079° 48.526
What features are present here that allows this "cave" to be called a sinkhole?
The Eramosa Karst is a provincially-significant Earth Science Area of Natural and Scientific Interest in Stoney Creek.
It exhibits sixteen different karstic geological features, of which seven are provincially significant,and is considered to be the best example of karst topography found in Ontario. The area is composed of parcels of land that are provincially, municipally and privately owned. It received ANSI-ES designation on February 13, 2003.
In October 2006, Ontario donated 73 ha of land to the Hamilton Conservation Authority to create a new conservation area, followed by another donation of 3.1 ha in April 2007. The City of Hamilton has also contributed in June 2007 by transferring 1.6 ha. The area opened to the public on June 20, 2008.
The area is crossed by the Eramosa Escarpment. It is morphologically similar to the Niagara Escarpment, as both are composed of the Lockport Formation dolostones.[2] However, the Eramosa Escarpment is much smaller in height (no more than 10 metres); its crest is only occasionally defined by cliffs, which are no higher than 3 metres. Most of the bedrock is buried by till.
The area exhibits a great concentration of various karstic features. Some of which are:
Soil pipes
These tubular cavities, a few millimetres to a few centimetres in diameter, conduct water from the surface to the karst bedrock below.
Dolines
Dolines (or sinkholes) are mostly found in its suffusion form. Suffusion dolines are depressions formed above caves and smaller cavities in unconsolidated sediments. Many dolines in the Eramosa Karst are formed by a combination of soil piping and erosion of the glacially-deposited sediments, overlying the bedrock.
Karst windows
These features are created when a cave's bedrock roof collapses. Pottruff Cave's entrance is an example of such a formation.
Valleys
Streams flowing through the area have formed valleys that are typical of a karstic landscape. Blind valleys are formed when a stream sinks underground. As there is no farther surface flow, such valleys ends abruptly. A half-blind valley is similar, except that a surface flow is occasionally present downstream of the sinkpoint. Dry valleys were formed prior to the development of underground stream passages, representing a former route of springs before they were diverted by sinkholes. Depending on the stage of evolution, these valleys may or may not have surface flow.
Caves
Five dissolutional caves, large enough for human entry, have been identified within the area. Nexus Cave is the largest, measuring 335 metres in length, and is the 10th longest cave in Ontario.
Congratulations akela31 on the FTF!
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)