EARTHCACHE REQUIREMENTS
Each cacher must send his/her own answers BEFORE logging a find. Enjoy the journey (learning adventure) as well as the destination (smiley earned). Remember to take only pictures and leave only footprints. To get credit for this Earthcache, complete the following tasks:
1. MESSAGE …. Visit the upper, middle, and lower falls at Letchworth State Park. At each of the coordinates, use your GPS to get the elevation. UPPER FALLS (posted coordinates) - MIDDLE FALLS (reference point 1) - LOWER FALLS (reference point 2). You will be at observation points. If you wish, there are trails leading closer to the falls.
2. MESSAGE …. Classify each of the three waterfalls.
QUESTIONS 3 and 4. Include qualitative (words/descriptions) and quantitative (numbers/measurements) answers for each question. Examples include cascades (type/number/ height/volume/ledges), rocks (type/number/height/layers/ledges), upper and lower pools, vegetation along the cliffs, etc.
3. MESSAGE …. Give three similarities among the three waterfalls.
4. MESSAGE …. Other than classification, give three differences among the three waterfalls.
5. MESSAGE …. What caused the formation of the three waterfalls?
LOG …. Post a picture of you or your signature item at your favorite waterfall. Explain your choice. This picture is your log signature.
OPTIONAL - Please respect the time and effort involved in creating this earthcache by adding A and B to your log.
A. JOURNEY OF THE MIND ... Science explains what we observe. Relate (in your own words) something you found interesting in the reading. This adds to your learning adventure and your log.
B. JOURNEY OF THE HEART ... Art shares our personal experience of what we see. Share something special you found on site, and why it is special to you. This is a memorable addition to your log and will make other hearts smile.
Journeys of Heart and Mind ...
Stories to Touch the Heart and Puzzles to Challenge the Mind / Rainbow Tree Story
WATERFALLS
Within Letchworth State Park, there are three large waterfalls on the Genesee River and as many as fifty waterfalls found on tributaries that flow into it. The gorge formed by the river, with rock walls rising up to 550 feet in places and which narrow to 400 feet across above the middle of the three falls, prompted the area's reputation as the Grand Canyon of the East".
The three major waterfalls — called the Upper, Middle, and Lower Falls — are located in Portage Canyon, the southern section of the park. The Seneca called the land around this canyon "Sehgahunda", the "Vale of the three falls". The Middle Falls ("Skagadee") was believed to be so wondrous it made the sun stop at midday.
The only trail bridging the Genesee River across Portage Canyon crosses a stone bridge just below the Lower Falls. The Middle Falls is the highest, and the Upper Falls has an active railroad trestle crossing immediately above it, providing an even higher vantage immediately above the falls.
WATERFALL CLASSIFICATION
http://www.world-of-waterfalls.com/featured-articles-waterfalls-101-what-types-of-waterfalls-are-there.html
PLUNGE - Waterfalls that drop vertically usually without touching the underlying cliff face.
HORSETAIL - Waterfalls that fan out as they drop into a steep slope but maintaining contact with the underlying cliff face.
FAN - Similar to Horsetail, but looks more like a fan.
PUNCHBOWL - The shape you get when you have a stream channeled into a narrow hanging gorge and shooting over a drop that results in a plunge pool resembling a punch bowl.
BLOCK - Resembles that of some rectangular shape. The underlying cliff face is usually a vertical wall. Sometimes waterfalls in this category end up being wider than its height.
TIERED - Have more than one vertical leap or tier.
SEGMENTED - The descending watercourse splits into two or more parallel segments or threads. Usually the cause of the split is some protruding rock in the middle of the watercourse before or during the course of the waterfalling cascade.
CASCADES - Descend along a sloped surface.
CHUTE - Watercourse is forced into a narrow channel resulting in a violently pressurized ejection of water.
SCREE - Flow over loose rock that has accumulated at the base of a mountain or cliff as a result of erosion.
SLIDE - Waterfalls flowing over a relatively low angle slope.
RIBBON - Very thin or ephemeral waterfalls that have a very narrow stream but may fall over a long vertical drop resulting in its ribbon-like appearance.
GEOLOGY
The bedrock that is exposed in the gorge is Devonian in age, mostly shales, with some layers of limestone and sandstone. The rock was laid down in an ancient inland sea, and many marine fossils can be found. The landform of this section of the Genesee River valley is geologically very young, caused by a diversion of the river from the old valley by the last continental glacier, forcing the river to cut a new section of valley.
The current upper Genesee (above Mount Morris) was only the west branch in preglacial times, a tributary river to the original. This branch, which entered the old valley was also dammed in the Nunda area by moraines. A lake was formed with varve clay sediments visible along the valley sides in many spots, but the lake drained as the river found a way to cut a new valley northeastward from Portageville a little west of the original valley, then drop back into the old valley at Mount Morris. This section of new valley is a spectacular gorge with three scenic waterfalls, that is now the site of Letchworth State Park.
RESOURCES
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letchworth_State_Park
http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/nysgs/experience/sites/letchworth/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glacial_geology_of_the_Genesee_River