Requirements Update as of 13-Jul-2019: You still cannot walk outside onto the observation deck until construction repairs are completed.
EarthCache Requirements
To fulfill the requirements for this EarthCache, you must visit the 5th story observation deck of the Nature Center and provide responses to the cache owner either via a geocaching.com message (preferred) or via e-mail to four questions:
- Find the Forked River Mountains in the distance. Describe what the mountains look like relative to the neighboring landscape. Is the height of the mountains more pronounced than (a) only the area right next to the mountains or (b) the entire area as far as you can see?
- What is the highest point of the mountains according to the sign at the posted coordinates?
- How many years ago was Upland Gravel deposited in the area known known as the Forked River Mountains?
- Turn around with your back to the Forked River Mountains. Can you see the nearby Barnegat Bay (less than 6 miles away) or Atlantic Ocean (less than 8 miles away)?
As with all EarthCaches, there is no container at the site. Please do not leave anything like trackables at the site or try to sign anything.
Congrats to ddrams, dispatch, and NJSquirrel on sharing the FTF on a Palindrome Day [6-11-16] while out on a quest to complete the infamous Connect - 9 - challenge!
Access to the Nature Center
The Nature Center at Jakes Branch County Park in Beachwood, NJ has free admission and offers an elevator, as well as stairs, to bring you to the 5th story observation deck. The Nature Center is generally open Monday - Friday, 8:30am to 4:00pm; Saturday - Sunday, 10:00am - 4:00pm. If you are traveling a distance to pursue this EarthCache, I recommend contacting Jakes Branch County Park to verify the Nature Center hours on a specific date. Stay on the observation deck even if your GPSr or phone insists the coords are beyond the deck; use common sense!
Background
At the posted coordinates, you are in the northern entrance to the New Jersey Pinelands, or Pine Barrens. The Pinelands is known for being flat and sandy, but this section of the Pinelands is home to the Forked River Mountains! The mountains are actually two hills formed through a geological process known as topographic inversion. Their story goes back about millions and millions of years ago when dinosaurs roamed the Earth and the Pinelands were entirely underwater beneath the Atlantic Ocean.
About Topographic Inversion
Topographic inversion is also known as inverted relief or inverted topography. It refers to landscape features that have reversed their elevation relative to other features. It most often occurs when low areas of a landscape become filled with sediment or lava that hardens into material that is more resistant to erosion than the material that surrounds it. The erosion leaves behind the younger resistant material, which may then appear as a ridge or hill. Topographic inversion has also been observed on the surfaces of other planets including Mars.
This recipe is a simple way to understand how topographic inversion formed the Forked River Mountains:
- Mix sediment (gravel, sand, silt, and clay) to make Cohansey Sand [lower layer] and use rivers to spread on the shallow ocean floor.
- Wait 10 million years for the ocean to recede from the surrounding area.
- Use new rivers (on nearby lands previously below ocean waters) to spread Upland Gravel [upper layer] along banks, creating mounds.
- Wait perhaps a million years for the same new rivers to erode Cohansey Sand from the edges of the Upland Gravel mounds. This erosion turns the mounds into hills as the surrounding ground gets lower and lower from the top of the mounds.
