Productive Day on The River EarthCache
Productive Day on The River
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The Ohio river's origin dates back around 2.5 - 3 million years. This would fall between the Quaternary and Neogene period.Which makes this river considerably young in light of the age of the Earth. The Ohio River goes through the following states: Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia and Pennslyvania. It's widest point can be found 135 miles east of this point in Louisville, KY, where it spans one mile wide and is 981 miles long. This area of the river was huge for the natives and industrailist in their ways of life. A river has three stages of growth as can be seen in the chart below 
Youth-Mature and Old Age and some accounts make mention of rejuvenated. The mouth of the Ohio River is the Mississippi River between Illinois and Kentucky The head waters of the Ohio River is a confluence of Allegheny River and Monongahela River at Pittsburgh. A river's formation begins, due to gravity, at a high point in the watercourse and it almost always flows downward. Some rivers start from springs where the water rises from the Earth and begins to flow. Some rivers start from lakes or melting glaciers high in the mountains. Snow or rain is on the highlands is the source for most rivers. Initially, the water runs in an evenly distributed, thin sheet, called surface runoff. After it makes it way down for a short distance, the water begins to run in small parallel rivulets called rills. The water becomes turbulent passing over fine soil or silt, they dig shallow channels, called runnels. This is where the first stage of erosion occurs. This particular spot was given the name "Red Banks"by the Cherokee who inhabited and hunted this area. As you can see it is called that by it's red clay soil. This red clay soil is also known as Ultisols. 
Ultisols is one of 12 soil in the US. Ultisols varies in color from from purplish-red, to a blindingly bright reddish-orange, to pale yellowish-orange and even some subdued yellowish-brown tones. Ultisols gets it color from high amounts of rust or iron oxide which is highly insoluable in water. Ultisols take hundereds of thousands of years to form and would have been expected to be very common in the warm Mesozoic and Tertiary paleoclimates.
1.) By the information in the details above and looking where you are standing, what stage of life would you say the Ohio river is in at the point?
2.) Give your estimate of how wide the river is from the Kentucky bank to the Indiana bank.
3. Give me a water level reading off of the pillar on the bridge. (Chart located on pillar in plain view south of coordinates)
4. How many states does this river go through?
5. Name the two time periods this river was created.
6. What name did the Cherokee give this area and why?
7. What color and shade is the soil on the banks at coordinates?
Optional: Take a Picture of yourself with the river as your backdrop Please do not post answers in the log but send them to me by email.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)