Brackish Water! EarthCache
Hidden : 9/22/2011
Difficulty:
1 out of 5
Terrain:
1 out of 5

Size: Size: not chosen (not chosen)

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Geocache Description:

THIS IS A EARTH CACH!!
Reeds Bay Beach Park is located at the edge of Banyan Drive. Reeds Bay boasts good swimming and always calm waters.

The beach park is named after William H. Reed, a prominent businessman on the Big Island who arrived here in the 1840s and died in 1880.

This inlet is always calm, but the waters are usually cold because of a nearby Brackish water cold spring that flows constantly.Brackish water condition commonly occurs when fresh water meets sea water. The bay consists of white sand and coral rubble (the western edge of Reeds Bay is man-made). Between 1925 and 1930, coral material was dredged at Hilo Harbor and deposited here. Sailboats anchor in the waters offshore, and other smaller boats are launched from shore.

Banyan Drive is less than a mile from the downtown area, it is lined with large Banyan trees planted by famous people, and it has a small golf course across the street from all the hotels. Banyan Drive is where most of the hotels in Hilo are, and it is also shared by Reeds Bay and a gorgeous Japanese-style garden, Liliuokalani Park, which is a beautifully landscaped park right on the waterfront. Safe swimming, proximity to downtown Hilo, and a Brackish water-fed swimming hole called "the Ice Pond" that flows into the backwaters of Hilo Bay are the enticements of this cove. No, there really isn't ice in the swimming hole; it just feels that way on a hot sultry day. The large pond, between Hilo Seaside Hotel and Harrington's Restaurant, is a favorite of local kids who enjoy jumping into and frolicking in the chilly fresh- and saltwater mix. However. Lapped by tranquil waters, this beach is fed by chilly freshwater springs.
Reeds Bay Beach Park offers a calm and shallow swimming area. However, most people prefer another area called Ice Pond, which is located at the head of Reeds Bay. This natural pond got its name from the cold spring water that bubbles up from the ocean bottom and mixes with the salt water.

Brackish water is water that has more salinity than fresh water, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing of seawater with fresh water, as in estuaries, or it may occur in brackish fossil aquifers. The word comes from the Middle Dutch root "brak," meaning "salty". Certain human activities can produce brackish water, in particular certain civil engineering projects such as dikes and the flooding of coastal marshland to produce brackish water pools for freshwater prawn farming. Brackish water is also the primary waste product of the salinity gradient power process. Because brackish water is hostile to the growth of most terrestrial plant species, without appropriate management it is damaging to the environment.

Technically, brackish water contains between 0.5 and 30 grams of salt per litre—more often expressed as 0.5 to 30 parts per thousand (ppt or ‰). Thus, brackish covers a range of salinity regimes and is not considered a precisely defined condition. It is characteristic of many brackish surface waters that their salinity can vary considerably over space and/or time.
Ground water is one of Hawaii's most important natural resources. It is used for drinking water, irrigation, and domestic, commercial, and industrial needs. Ground water provides about 99 percent of Hawaii's domestic water and about 50 percent of all freshwater used in the State. Total ground water pumped in Hawaii was about 500 million gallons per day during 1995, which is less than 3 percent of the average total rainfall (about 21 billion gallons per day) in Hawaii. From this perspective, the ground-water resource appears ample; however, much of the rainfall runs off to the ocean in streams or returns to the atmosphere by evapotranspiration. Furthermore, ground-water resources can be limited because of water-quality, environmental, or economic concerns.

Water beneath the ground surface occurs in two pricipal zones: the unsaturated zone and the saturated zone. In the unsaturated zone, the pore spaces in rocks contain both air and water, whereas in the saturated zone, the pore spaces are filled with water. The upper surface of the saturated zone is referred to as the water table. Water below the water table is referred to as ground water. Ground-water salinity can range from freshwater to that of seawater. Freshwater is commonly considered to be water with a chloride concentration less than 250 mg/L, and this concentration represents about 1.3 percent of the chloride concentration of seawater (19,500 mg/L). Brackish water has a chloride concentration between that of freshwater (250 mg/L) and saltwater (19,500 mg/L).

The most extensive and productive aquifers in the Hawaiian islands are formed by volcanic rocks that erupted during the principal building stage of each volcano. Lava from this stage, called the shield stage, consists of basalts that characteristically form thin flows ranging in thickness from a few feet to a few tens of feet.Volcanic-rock aquifers are found throughout the eight major islands and are locally overlain by sedimentary deposits. Sedimentary deposits of alluvium, coralline limestone, and cemented beach or dune sand that typically are considered to be productive aquifers in much of the conterminous United States are relatively poor aquifers in the Hawaiian islands. Limestone deposits are highly permeable in many places and usually yield brackish water or saltwater because of good hydraulic connection between the ocean and the limestone and because of low recharge to the limestone.
In some places, weathered volcanic rocks or sedimentary deposits form a low-permeability confining unit
overlying high-permeability volcanic rocks. In coastal areas, confining units of weathered volcanic rocks and sedimentary deposits are called caprock, which impedes the discharge of freshwater to the ocean.
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TO LOG A FIND ON THIS CACHE YOU MUST E-MAIL ME THE CORECT ANSWERS. ANY INCORRECT ANSWERS WILL RESULT IN A DELETED LOG.

To log this Earthcache you must do the following:

Pick up a Hydrometer:

You can get it from any pet store or on line.(Cost about $6.00).

Good Luck!!

Then you must take two readings Way Point Cordinates is provided for the two readings. One at Hilo Bay (Sand Area) and other at Ice Pond. Take a reading of how much salt is in the Bay and Pond area. (See Picture Below)

Opional: Take a picture of you with your Hydrometer and E-Mail.

Additional Hints (No hints available.)



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