The Mystery of the Carolina Bays EarthCache
Hidden : 1/9/2012
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
2 out of 5

Size: Size: not chosen (not chosen)

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Geocache Description:

Congrats 2OutCaching for FTF!!

Have you ever heard of the mystery of the carolina bays?

The what?

Carolina bays! There are rumored to be no less than 500,000 of them stretching between Florida and Delaware!

Wait, what are you talking about?

Carolina bays are one of the United States' great geological mysteries. Where did they come from? How long have they been there? What are they?? Well by scientific definition, carolina bays are elliptical wetlands found along the Atlantic Coastal Plain that typically share a suite of features including an oval or tear-drop shape, orientation along a NW-SE axis, a raised sand rim along the south and east margins, a depth profile that often increases from the NW to the SE, and fluctuating water levels.

Now I'm lost.

Basically there are hundreds of thousands of mysterious oval pits and depressions along the east coast that all look strikingly similar. They all carry the same general shape, they are all oriented the same direction, and they all have the same features (like rims) mentioned in the "scientific description" above!

The big mystery has to do with where these bays came from. No one knows!! Theories range from the plausible (e.g. subsidence features and wind events) to the fanciful (e.g. extra-terrestrial landing pads, ancient fish redds, and meteorite impacts). Ultimately, there is no single accepted theory on their formation at all.

As suggested by their name, most bays are found in the states of North and South Carolina, but Georgia ranks third in number with more than 1,000, and they cover an incredible quarter of a million acres.

These facts are known about the craters, according to former state geologist Sam Pickering. They always occur in sandy soil, are always pointed in the same direction, all are roughly oval or elliptical shaped, and each has a pronounced rim of sand surrounding it, the rim lowest to the southeast, which indicates the direction from which the giant shotgun blast came, apparently at an angle of 35 to 55 degrees. Georgia's range in size from 200 yards to over four miles in diameter (Arabia Bay in Clinch County is the largest), but in the Carolinas they reach an incredible seven miles in width.

In the scientific community, the most popular theories of their creation are typically based on combination of impacts from winds and water flow. However, geologist Pickering said, ”The only theory I have not been able to destroy to my own satisfaction or the only one to which I have been able to give any serious consideration, is that they are very shallow meteor-impact craters, probably caused by a comet mass which broke up in the upper atmosphere sometime within the last several thousand years. Fragments of icy material from the comet came down through the atmosphere at very high speeds and the air blast ahead of the fragments blew out the craters in the surface sand. To most people, the term ‘crater’ implies a hole blasted from solid rock but that is not what Carolina Bays are. They would be better described as loose sand blown away by the shock waves of a meteor.”

There is no established pattern to their distribution. The bays are simply scattered at random from New Jersey down the Atlantic coast. In Georgia, most are located miles from the coast in a rough line from Augusta to Waycross. At some spots they appear like pellets from a cosmic shotgun blast-a dozen or more side by side. In other places there may be two or three bays co-joined, and still others are isolated miles from its nearest neighboring pit.

So are they craters from a MASSIVE impact event between a comet and the Earth? Or are they natural depressions caused by eroding surface sands and ocean-driven surface winds?

Time for you to decide!

The cache coordinates take you to the west side of Sweetheart Rd in Screven County. This dirt road winds around the rims of no less than four carolina bays (in good condition) in the stretch of about two miles. The bays in the best condition are located on the west side closest to Brannen Bridge Rd, however all should be visible from the road itself.

Now even though there are over 30 carolina bays within a few miles of here, spotting the bays from the ground can be a bit difficult. So make things easier for you, the rims of five bays in the area have been marked as waypoints in the cache. You do not need to visit each one (unless you want to), but they should be easily accessible from the car as you explore the area.

Please be careful! Sweetheart Road is a dirt road and may be difficult to navigate in a car after heavy rains. Also, some of the wooded areas are marked as private property. You should NOT enter anyone's private property to log this cache.

To log the cache and get the smiley, send me an email with the answers to the following questions:

1 - Explain the geology of the carolina bays as observed from the roads that wind around the rims.
2 - Is there a noticeable "depression" in each of the bays? Does the ground appear to be level around the rim?
3 - Is there a striking difference in vegetation between the bays and woodland surrounding the bays?
4 - What do you think caused the creation of the bays? Why do you think so?

Logs that do not have answers sent will be quietly removed.

If you would like to read more scientific information on carolina bays in Georgia, check out this 2002 report and survey. For the more casual side, check out this link.

Have fun trying to learn about one of the greatest geological mysteries of the United States!

Additional Hints (No hints available.)



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