Claybanks Pools EarthCache
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The Claybanks are a favourite summer playground here in Merritt. The Coldwater River slows and thirty years ago, took a turn, creating a large and deep pool that has been dug out by the many years of water flow. The river no longer turns there, but has created a very wide spot with a deep pool below a sedimentary cliff. You can clearly see the layers in the cliff. Many of the layers are heavy in bentonite, which makes them clay – thus the name, Claybanks.
The Claybanks Pools
You can see at the top of the cliff the efforts the landowner has made to slow the process of erosion. As Merritt does not suffer from much water coming from the sky, I suspect it has not done much to slow the natural process of erosion!
The inside of the curve, where the water flows more slowly, is a shallow pebble beach where smaller children can safely wade in the water under the supervision of parents or older siblings. In the last thirty years, this beach has become much wider as most of the river’s water flows along the opposite bank.
When a river turns, water flows at different rates on the inside and the outside. The outside curve is a greater distance than the inside curve. The molecules of water at the outside of the turn are forced to move faster by forces of friction and attraction at the molecular level, so that the water on the outside of the curve, because it is moving faster, has greater power to erode the banks than the water on the inside of the curve.
Now the curve of the Coldwater River is several hundred meters downstream from where it was thirty years ago. So much for geological processes being so slow they cannot be noticed!
Because the water at the outer curve is exerting more energy, the outer side of any curve of flowing water will have deeper areas than the inside of the curve as erosion takes place below water level as well as above it. This is of great importance not only to summer swimmers and waders who want shallow water, but also for fishermen, as these deeper pools provide resting places for fish.
In addition, because the outer curve of water is spending its energy in movement, it tends to be cooler than the water on the inside of a curve. This is important to the salmon that spawn in these rivers as they prefer cool temperatures. In addition, deeper water always tends to be cooler than shallower water, as the warming effect of the sun can penetrate to the bottom more easily in the shallows.
To document your visit here, please answer the following questions and send them to the cache owner, ylord.
1. why is the water on the outside of a curve moving faster than that on the inside?
2. Why is the water on the inside of a curve warmer than the water on the outside? (there are two reasons!)
3. How did the landowner at the top of the cliff try to slow the process of erosion?
Optionally, feel free to post a picture of yourself at the Claybanks!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
whfg nobir gur uvtujngre znex.... rkprcg va IREL uvtu sybbqjngre lrnef!
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