Lucky (Kettle) Lake EarthCache
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A kettle lake is a shallow, sediment-filled body of water formed when glaciers retreat or by draining floodwaters.
Formation
Kettles result when blocks of ice break off from the front of a receding glacier and become partially to wholly buried by glacial outwash. Glacial outwash results from streams of meltwater flowing away from the glacier and depositing sediments to form broad outwash plains called sandurs. When the ice blocks melt, kettle holes are left in the sandur.
Kettle holes can also form when an ice-dammed lake suddenly releases and drains, transporting large amounts of ice with it. These floods, called jökulhlaups (an icelandic term), often deposit large quantities of sediment onto the glacial outwash surface. The kettles result from the melting blocks of sediment-rich ice that were transported and buried during the jökulhlaups.
Characteristics
Most kettle holes are less than two kilometers in diameter, although there are some in the U.S. Midwest with diameters over ten kilometers. Puslinch Lake in Ontario is the largest kettle lake in Canada with an area greater than 160 hectares (380 acres).
The depth of most kettles is less than ten meters. In most cases, kettle holes eventually fill with water, sediment, or vegetation. If the kettle is fed by surface or underground rivers or streams, it becomes a kettle lake. If the kettle receives its water from precipitation, the groundwater table, or a combination of the two, it is termed a kettle pond or kettle wetland, if vegetated. Kettle ponds that are not affected by the groundwater table will usually become dry during the warm summer months.
To log this earthcache you must answer a few questions and email them to me. Some of the answers will be on the information sign at the location. Posting a picture as well is optional, but very welcomed.
1. How many years ago was glacial ice buried at this location?
2. What was the large depression lined with?
3. Why is the kettle known as Lucky Lake?
4. Do you think this kettle could have been formed by a jökulhlaups? Why?
5. What is the approximate diameter of the kettle?
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