BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
The park is open daily year-round, Dawn to Dusk
The Education Center is open
Monday-Saturday: 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Sunday: 1-5 p.m.
The parking lot gates are only open during times the Education Center is open. If you are going to in the park when the Education is closed please park outside of the gates.
416 Rebmann Lane 859-225-4073
More information on McConnell Springs and a schedule of events at the park can be found on their web site, http://www.mcconnellsprings.org/.
This is the first of two related Earthcaches. The other Here it is....... GC38NQ2
McConnell Springs is the birth place of Lexington. It was founded by a group of frontiersmen led by William McConnell in June 1775. It is named after the first battle in the American Revolution War in Lexington, Massachusetts.
They setteld at this location because of the unique springs that would enable them to more easily establish a permenient settlement.
Kentucky is one of the most famous karst areas in the world. Much of the state's beautiful scenery, particularly the horse farms in the Bluegrass Region, is the result of development of karst landscape. The karst topography of Kentucky is mostly on limestone, but also some dolostone.
A karst landscape has sinkholes, sinking streams, caves, and springs. Kentucky is one of the most famous karst areas of the world. Much of the state's beautiful scenery, particularly the horse farms of the Inner Bluegrass, results from the development of karst landscape. Karst underlies regions of major economic importance to the state. Many of Kentucky's cities, including Frankfort, Louisville, Lexington, Bowling Green, Elizabethtown, Munfordville, Hopkinsville, Russellville, Princeton, Lawrenceburg, Georgetown, Winchester, Paris, Somerset, Versailles, and Nicholasville, are partly or entirely underlain by karst. Springs and wells in karst areas supply water to thousands of homes. Much of Kentucky's prime farmland is underlain by karst. A substantial portion of the Daniel Boone National Forest, with its important recreational and timber resources, is underlain by karst. Caves also provide recreational opportunities and contain unique ecosystems. Mammoth Cave, with over 350 miles of passages, is the longest surveyed cave in the world. Two other caves in the state are over 30 miles long, and 10 Kentucky caves are among the 50 longest in the United States.
A sinkhole is any depression in the surface of the ground into which rainfall is drained. Karst sinkholes form when a fracture in the limestone bedrock is preferentially enlarged. Sinkholes form in two ways. In the first way, the bedrock roof of a cave becomes too thin to support the weight of the bedrock and the soil material above it. The cave roof then collapses, forming a collapse sinkhole. Bedrock collapse is rare, and the least likely way a sinkhole can form, although it is commonly assumed to form all sinkholes. The second way sinkholes form is much more common and much less dramatic. As the rock is dissolved and carried away underground, the soil gently slumps or erodes into a dissolution sinkhole. Once the underlying conduits become large enough, insoluble soil and rock particles are carried away too. Dissolution sinkholes form over long periods of time, with occasional episodes of soil or cover collapse. All of the dissolved limestone and soil particles eroded from the bedrock to form a sinkhole pass through the sinkhole's "throat" or outlet. The throat of a sinkhole is sometimes visible, but is commonly roofed by soil and broken rock and can be partly or completely filled with rubble. This opening can vary from a few inches in diameter to many feet. Normally, water flows out of the sinkhole throat to a conduit that drains to a spring. When sinkhole throats are totally blocked and little water can flow out, a "sinkhole pond" may form, a common sight in the Pennyroyal. Sinkhole ponds are temporary features and last only as long as the throat is tightly plugged. Swallow holes are points along streams and in sinkholes where surface flow is lost to underground conduits. Swallow holes range in diameter from a few inches to tens of feet, and some are also cave entrances. Swallow holes are often large enough to allow large objects such as tree limbs and cobble-size stones to be transported underground. This means that waste dumped into sinkholes can easily reach underground streams. It is not uncommon for discarded automobile tires and home appliances to be found deep within caves with flowing streams. Likewise, sewage, paint, motor oil, pesticides, and other pollutants are not filtered from water entering a karst aquifer.
Ninety-two of Kentucky's 120 counties contain at least some areas of karst. About 40 percent of the state is underlain by rocks with the potential for at least some karst development, and 20 percent of the state has well-developed karst features.
As part of the education experience, it is required that you be able to answer some questions about your visit.
To obtain credit for this cache email me the answers to the following questions….
1. What percent of Kentucky has the pontential for karst development?
2. How wide is the pool at the final sink?
3. While standing at the listed coordinates what do you see that would make you think this stream is part of Karst topography that this region is known for having?
4. What are two reasons that sinkholes form?
5. According to a sign at the coordinates how far is Preston's Cave Spring?
Once you email me the answers, go ahead and post. If your answers are wrong, I will notify you.
While no photos are necessary to log this cache, feel free to post as many as you like. (Please, no spoilers.)
Good Luck!
Cache is approved and permission granted by LFUCG Division of Parks and Recreation. Cache code is MCSP05e - C Michael Downs
Many thanks to peytonapple for providing the help with this cache.
Sources of information for the EarthCache quoted from the Kentucky Geology information website. I have used sources available to me by using the library, internet, research, and asking questions to get information for this earth cache. I am by no means a geologist. Like most people I use whats available to me to get geological information just like 99.9 percent of the geocachers who create these great Earth Caches. I enjoy Earth Caches and want people to get out and see what I see every time I go and explore this great place we live in.