Big Talbot Island Bluffs EarthCache
Hidden : 9/18/2012
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
2.5 out of 5

Size: Size: not chosen (not chosen)

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Geocache Description:


As of the time of posting there is a fee to enter.

Park Admission Fee: Please use the honor box to pay fees. Correct change is required. Limit 8 people per vehicle.

$3.00 per vehicle entrance fee to access the Bluffs picnic area.
Hours are 8:00 a.m. until sunset, 365 days a year.

Big Talbot Bluffs is a Florida State Park located on the Atlantic coastline near Jacksonville, Florida.

The coastal landscape and beach at Big Talbot Island is unique within the state of Florida as result of the lava like hardpan sedimentary deposits. These rocky formations are habitat for mollusca, crab, oysters, and other tide pool creatures.

The formations and sand on Blackrock Beach are much darker in contrast to the coquina formations at Washington Oaks State Gardens, and the limestone outcroppings at Blowing Rocks Preserve further south on A1A.

Big Talbot and Little Talbot are two of only a few remaining undeveloped barrier islands within Florida. Native Americans named the Timucua were the first humans to inhabit these islands. Beginning with the arrival of the French in 1562, France, England, and Spain claimed the islands as colonial territory. In 1735, General James Oglethorpe named the Talbot Islands in honor of Charles Talbot, Lord High Chancellor of England. Along with the bordering Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, the islands are representative of several ecosystems and support a number of diverse natural habitats abundant with wildlife.



Once you complete the 2nd step, you will be standing at a location approximately 50,000 years in the making and have a firsthand look at shoreline “retreat”.

“Shoreline retreat” is a natural process involving both erosion of shorline by rising sea level, and the migration of the entire barrier island landward. Thus the bluffs at Big Talbot State Park were created and is a unique, protected example of the geologic processes of erosion and accretion involved in the formation of sea islands.

What you see today at Big Talbot Island is a product of the immense erosional forces caused by repeated glacial cycles approximately 50 thousand years ago.

To receive credit for this EarthCache, you will need to take a couple elevation measurements with your GPSr and perform a little math. Hopefully by doing so, you will have a better understanding of the incredible forces that led to the formation of Big Talbot Island.

1. At the posted coordinates given, take an elevation reading with your GPS.

2. Proceed down the trail to these coords 30° 30.336 081° 27.152 . Once there take an elevation reading with your GPS.

3. Using the elevation readings from steps 1 & 2, calculate the height of the bluff.

4. While at the shoreline look around. What do you see and what may have caused it?

5. Totally optional..... Post a picture of youself at the posted coords.

E-mail this information to me when you log this EarthCache.

You do NOT have to wait for confirmation from me before logging your find. Please do not make any reference to these answers in your log.

I want to thank:
Geocaching.com for having EarthCache style caches
The Geological Society of America and the EarthCache Team.
www.dep.state.fl.us/parks/planning/parkplans/BigandLittleTalbotIslandStatePark.pdf for all the great information.

Visitors to this area are asked to respect Big Talbot Islands fragile soils, plants and its bluffs. So please stay on the established trails.

Enjoy, Let's Go Geocaching!

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