Silver Lake Earthcache - A Kettle Lake EarthCache

Silver Lake Earthcache - A Kettle Lake

Silver Lake is a small lake on the south-facing foot of the North Mountain.  It is glacial kettle lake with a depth of 14.7 meters. The area is surrounded by rich farmland and a few residential lots. It is also known locally as Lakeville Lake, this small lake is a popular spot for swimming, picnics and fishing. It was donated to the people of Kings County by the Lakeville Women's Institute.

A kettle lake is a body of water that is formed from a glacier carving out the land. Landscapes shaped by glaciers are often dotted with small  to large kettle lakes.  Many years ago when glaciers were on many of the continents, some of the glaciers began to recede because of increasing temperatures.

As the glacier receded, chunks of the glacier broke off, carved a hole, and left debris around the hole that received water to become a lake. A deposition is a bowl-shaped depression that was formed by a block of ice from a glacier and then became filled with water. The kettle lake received its name by the shape that is left behind by the glacier. Most kettle holes are less than two kilometres in diameter, and most are less than 10 meters in depth. Silver lake is the exception with it’s depth of almost 15 meters.

In most cases, kettle holes eventually fill with water, sediment, or vegetation. If the kettle is deep enough and is fed by surface or underground rivers or streams, it becomes a kettle lake. If the kettle receives its water from precipitation, the groundwater table, or a combination of the two, it is termed a kettle pond or kettle wetland due to the vegetation. Kettle ponds that are not affected by the groundwater table will usually become dry during the warm summer months, in which case they are deemed ephemerals.

To log this Earthcache visit the viewing location.  Please answer the following questions and send in a timely manner to my geocaching profile or email. Answers not received will result in deleted logs.

1. What is the height of the land here above seas level?

2. Estimate the size of the lake, length and width.

3. Looking from shore what do you think the bottom is composed of? 

4. Do you see a water feed into the lake?  Where do you think the water comes from?

5. Post a picture of the kettle lake.

[REQUIRED] In accordance with the updated guidelines from Geocaching Headquarters published in June 2019, photos are now an acceptable logging requirement and WILL BE REQUIRED TO LOG THIS CACHE. Please provide a photo of yourself or a personal item in the picture to prove you visited the site.