High Falls at Rondout Creek EarthCache
Hidden : 9/21/2013
Difficulty:
3 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size: other (other)

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Geocache Description:


From this vantage point you will get a good view of High Falls on Rondout Creek. You can also find a sign that will help you answer a question or two below so that you get credit for your find. It will be to your advantage to walk down the road and go through the gate to access the creek below the falls. This is allowed and the gate is just to keep vehicles out.

High Falls is a portion of the Rondout Creek where the creek cuts through a massive rock formation, known as the Rondout Formation. In the late 1800's and early 1900's this creek was a source of water power for millers. When you go through the gate you can follow a "path along the creek where one can walk down a section of the Late Silurian strata overlying the Shawangunk conglomerate. [There one can see,] In descending order, the formations exposed are the Rondout dolostone, Binnewater sandstone, and High Falls shale." (Bennington 1) When you are looking at the falls, you are looking at dolostone which forms the resistant caprock, which is what the water is falling over.



"Downstream, smaller waterfalls occur in the Binnewater Sandstone and high Falls Shale and are followed by minor rapids in shallowly east-dipping Shawangunk Conglomerate. The asymetric anticline in the Binnewater Sandstone and High Falls Shale...is the westernmost mesoscopic structure in the fold-thrust belt near Rosendale." (Pazzaglia and Pazzaglia 212) All of this can be seen when you go down the path and look at the north bank of the creek. The size and shape of this fold, which is vergence opposite to the regional trend, suggest that there is a fault under this structure.

Now, not specifically here, but relatively nearby and with the same types of stone that one can see at this location natural cement was made. "Natural cement forms a surprisingly tenacious mortar and is made from clay-rich dolostone or limestone that is capable of hardening while submerged." (Werner 1) This natural cement was used to build canals (such as the one nearby), "Thousands of public works projects, including portions of the U.S. Capitol building, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Starrucca Viaduct, Roebling’s Delaware Aqueduct, the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty, and the Croton Aqueduct Dam and High Bridge began underground in cement mines near Rosendale." (Werner 1)

Works Cited

Bennington, J Bret "Regional Geology of Southeastern New York State for Teachers and Travelers." Print.
Pazzaglia, Frank J., and Frank James Pazzaglia. Excursions in Geology and History : Field Trips in the Middle Atlantic States. Geological Society of America Geological Society of Amer, 3300 Penrose Pl, Boulder, CO, 80301, 2006. Print.
Werner, Dietrich and Kurtis C. Burmeister. "An Overview of the History and Economic Geology of the Natural Cement Industry at Rosendale, Ulster County, New York." Journal of ASTM International, 4.6 (2007): 14. Print.

To get credit for this earthcache, please email or message Team Geofrog the following:
1. When you go down the path to the river, please describe, to the best of your ability, the different colors and/or textures of the layers that you observe.
2. In your travels here, you should have come across an informational sign. To whom was [how many] acres granted to in 1676?
3. Does the rock at that the water falls over (the falls themselves) appear different from the rock that is exposed on the opposite shore below? If so, how?

If I do not have the answers emailed or messaged to me in 24 hours, your found log will be deleted.

Congrats to Outdoors Lady on FTF!

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