Spoon Lake - What Type of Glacial Lake Am I? EarthCache

Spoon Lake - What Type of Glacial Lake Am I?

One of the most spectacular views in the Fraser Valley, Mount Cheam offers a 360-degree panoramic view from Chilliwack and the communities along the Fraser River, Jones Lake, the surrounding peaks, and Mount Baker to the south. The trail up starts with a gorgeous alpine meadow which leads you past the gorgeous emerald green glacially formed Spoon Lake... This lake is where the coordinates lead you. They are within the "easy" part of the hike, so if you manage to get to the valley, you can get here. Whether you continue up to Cheam Peak and the 360-degree view is up to your fitness level! The second waypoint is to help you get a better "birds eye" view of the lake and may help you to correctly answer the questions needed to log this cache. 

To get here, follow paved Bench Road to the Chipmunk Creek Forest Service Road onto the Mount Cheam Forest Service Road. You really need a high clearance vehicle to safely get up the road. We counted at least 50 water bars on the trip up. Some of them were a challenge! The parking lot was full of Xterra's, 4Runners, Jeeps and lifted 4X4's. Anything else and you run risk to damaging your undercarriage in a no cell service area!

Spoon Lake - Cheam Valley (photo by Hughling)

In order to log this Earth Cache, you must read amd answer the following questions. You MUST post a photo of yourself with the Spoon Lake in the background. You may post the photo in your log, or send it with your answers if you prefer not to have your photo online. That is proof of your visit to Ground Zero and is 100% essential to log this as a find. That way, even if you miss a question, you are still eligible to get this cache. Please E-mail via my profile or use the Message Center to send in your answers. Please do so within a few days of your visit so I don't have to be a meanie and delete your log!

Logging requirements:

1) Attach a photo of you, at GZ with Spoon Lake in the background. Either attach to your log, or send with your answers.

2) Describe the general size and shape of Spoon Lake.

3) From waypoint 2, you may more easily be able to answer this: describe the edges of the lake. Is it completely smooth? Are all the banks even? If you see an uneven bank, what angle do you note the edge to be?

4) From your observations of #3, what type of Glacial Lake is this? Describe what features make you think so (read the write up!).

5) There is a large rock at GZ. What are it's approximate dimensions? There is evidence that it saw some glacial activity as well - describe the glacial features you see (hint, look at the top face).

Thanks for visiting Spoon Lake! Hope you enjoyed your visit (even if you didn't enjoy the ride up!)

The majority of lakes on Earth are freshwater, most lie in the Northen Hemisphere at higher latitudes. Canada has an estimated 2 million lakes! G. Evelyn Hutchinson developed a lake classification system for major lake types, their origin, characteristics and distrbution. His classification recognizes 11 major lake types that are divided into 76 subtypes (feel free to explore these on your own spare time!).

The 11 major lake types are:

1. Tectonic lakes - formed by the deformation and resulting movements of the Earth's crust.
2. Volcanic lakes - local depressions, created by volanic activity.
3. Landslide lakes - created by the blockage of a valley by mudflows, rockslides, or screes and are common in mountainous regions. 
4. Solution lakes - occupy basins formed by surface dissolution of bedrock, which may produce cavities which collapse to form caverns.
5. Fluvial (or riverine) lakes - produced by running water, include plunge pool lakes, fluviatile dams and meander (Oxbow) lakes.
6. Aeolian lakes - produced by wind action. They are found mainly in arid environments.
7. Shoreline lakes - created by blockage of estuaries or by the uneven accretion of beach ridges by longshore and other currents.
8. Organic lakes - created by the actions of plants and animals (i.e. beaver activity).
9. Anthropogenic lakes - artificially created by human activity. They can be the result of intentional damming of rivers and streams or subsequent filling of abandoned excavations by either ground water, precipitation, or a combination of both.
10. Meteorite lakes- also known as crater lakes, created by catastrophic extraterrestrial impacts by either meteorites or asteroids.
11. Glacial lakes -created by the direct action of glaciers and continental ice sheets.

Glacial Lakes and Ponds

Glacial lakes are the most numerous lakes in the world and are attributed to glacial movements that create enclosed basins. The general types of glacial lakes that are recognized are lakes in direct contact with ice; glacially carved rock basins and depressions; morainic and outwash lakes; and glacial drift basins.

• Kettle lake: Kettle lakes form when a retreating glacier leaves behind an underground or surface chunk of ice that later melts to form a depression containing water. Kettle lakes are also known as pothole lakes or prairie potholes, they are often identified by deep and regularly shaped depressions and are often quite symmetrical in shape, There can be a sharply cut bank on one side.

Kettle Lake formation. http://www.geo.mtu.edu/KeweenawGeoheritage/Glaciers/Kettles.html

• Tarn: A lake formed in a cirque formed by glacial erosion. After the glaciers have melted, water collects in the bottom of the corries.

Schematic profile of a cirque and cirque glacier. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randkluft

• Paternoster lake: One of a series of lakes in a glacial valley, created by recessional moraines, or rock dams, that are formed by the advance and subsequent upstream retreat and melting of the ice, it is a often series of glacial cirque lakes/tarns connected by a single stream or braided stream system.Often compared to a "beaded necklace" or called a ribbon lake or rock basin lake.

• Glacial drift basin: A lake that formed between the front of a glacier and the last recessional moraine. Moraine-dammed lakes occur when glacial debris dam a stream (or snow runoff).

https://www.cleanpng.com/png-tal-y-llyn-lake-ribbon-lake-glacier-u-shaped-valle-4761160/

References:

Cirque. Wikipedia article. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cirque

Glacial landform. Wikipedia article. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glacial_landform

Kettle (landform). Wikipedia article.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kettle_(landform).

Lake. Wikipedia article. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake

Paternoster lake. Wikipedia article. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paternoster_lake

Types Of Lakes Formed By A Glacier. World Atlas https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/types-of-lakes-formed-by-a-glacier.html