The Moss Kettle EarthCache

From one point of view, this is a water cache, rather than an earthcache! We're taking you back only 10,000 (or so) years to understand the landscape here.  Loynton Moss is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and is best viewed from the main coordinates given.  There are many biting insects here in summer months – dress appropriately and consider using insect repellent.

Landscape:

Loynton Moss is a Kettle bog ('moss' is the local name for this) - a shallow pond lying in a hollow created when the last glacier retreated from this area.  Let's describe how kettle holes are created.

From http://www.landforms.eu/cairngorms/kettle%20hole.htm

Glaciers are dirty things.  Just like rivers they carry rocks, dirt, anything a river could carry, and as they melt all this debris (glacial 'moraine' gouged out by the ice) gets left behind, mainly as outwash (dirt and particles) and occasionally as larger boulders (glacial erratics).  Look for a nearby geocaching series of traditional caches to view some local moraine boulders (if you are interested), whereas here we have something different - a kettle hole.

When the ice gap retreated from this region, approximately 10,000 years ago, large chunks of ice fell off the retreating edge – like land-trapped icebergs.  These heavy lumps of ice sank into the ground, and then slowly melted in place, but meanwhile all around them the other glacial debris (mainly outwash) from the melted ice filled up the land around the iceberg, until a heavy depression in the land was formed, into which the iceberg completely melted.  At Loynton the original hole would have been about 600m across (100 acres in size).  Over time the hole has filled in with decaying vegetable matter, and the main factor for this landscape being as it is now has been the lack of any water inflow or drain – the only significant source of water here is rainfall – so what you are walking on is pretty much all decayed organic matter from the local plant life, which has been unable to flow anywhere.

In your woodland walk here you will experience some reedswamp, fen and peat, and all around the fringe are areas of carr terrain. 

• Swamp: waterlogged terrain that supports woody plants.  
• Fen: boggy land that has a relatively constant water table and a fresh supply of water.  As a result, fens have more nutrients in the soil than bogs, and can thus support an interesting variety of plant life, as here at the fringes of the central open space.
• Carr: land that is changing slowly over time from a swamp (or fen) and in the future will be a forest. At the western end of the moss there is a footpath where you can walk around the fringe of the area and see for yourself how the trees and dead vegetable matter (mainly reeds) have risen above the level of the lake, and are starting to form proper soil. 
• Woodland: all around Loynton Moss you will see that the fringe land here has largely moved on from carr and into proper woodland, albeit don't be tricked by the raised soil that was created by the building of the canal cutting - look to the north, west, and southern fringes for the natural landscape.

All around the moss you can see land in various stages of this process.

On to some landscape questions.

To Log this Earthcache:

1. The landscape was largely formed by the retreat of the glaciers 10,000 years ago.  What is the name for the geological epoch that describes the time from then until now?
2.  An ice age ends with a major event being declared to have happened.  What is this event, and thus are we still in an ice age or not?
3. At the stated coordinates - please estimate the amount (diameter) of the actual open water in front of you (this question needs some thought) and give an explanation for your answer.
4. At the stated coordinates you will find an information board. According to the board, is Loynton Moss today wetter or dryer than it would have been 100 years ago? Optional - tell me why?

Send answers to us either at earth@sharant.com or via the messenger service in our profile.  We'll reply promptly regarding accuracy of your answers, and as per logging guidelines we reserve the right to delete logs if we feel your answers show you haven't actually visited the site!