Black’s Bluff Preserve, an area of exceptional botanical diversity that begins along the east bank of the Coosa River, near Rome, and moves upslope over boulders, cliffs and caves to some 880 feet above sea level. It encompassing 263 acres, and it’s on the North side of Walker Mountain. Please visit Black's Bluff Preserve during daylight hours only.
Visit Blacks Bluff Preserve for more information.
A spring is a water resource formed when the side of a hill, a valley bottom or other excavation intersects a flowing body of ground water at or below the local water table, below which the subsurface material is saturated with water. Water issuing from an artesian spring rises to a higher elevation than the top of the confined aquifer from which it issues. A spring is the result of an aquifer being filled to the point that the water overflows onto the land surface. They range in size from intermittent seeps, which flow only after much rain, to huge pools flowing hundreds of millions of gallons daily.
Springs may be formed in any sort of rock. Small ones are found in many places in Georgia. This Spring is surrounded by 500-million-year-old Conasauga limestone that creates the perfect place for unique plants to thrive. Limestone is a very common sedimentary rock consisting mostly of calcium carbonate. Limestone can be found in just about any color depending upon which elements are combined with the calcium carbonate in the rock. The Conasauga limestone is also known for preserving fossils dating back to the Cambroan Period, 541 million to 485.4 million years ago. Look around the area and see if you spot any fossiles from this time period on the surface of the nearby limestone. Do not dig or break any rocks during your search.
Springs fall into three General classifications:
Perennial -springs that flow constantly during the year.
Intermittent -temporary springs that are active after rainfall, or during certain seasonal changes.
Periodic -as in geysers that vent and erupt at regular or irregular intervals.
The amount of water that flows from springs depends on many factors, including the size of the caverns within the rocks, the water pressure in the aquifer, the size of the spring basin, and the amount of rainfall. Human activities also can influence the volume of water that discharges from a spring-groundwater withdrawals in an area can cause water levels in the aquifer system to drop and ultimately decreasing the flow from the spring. Most people probably think of a spring as being like a pool of water—and normally that is the case, but springs can occur when geologic, hydrologic, or human forces cut into the underground layers of soil and rock where water is in movement.
Water from springs usually is remarkably clear. Water from some springs, however, may be "tea-colored." This coloring and metals enrichment are caused by groundwater coming in contact with naturally occurring minerals present.
To get credit for this Earthcache you must email me the answers to the following questions:
1) Is the water flowing out of the spring clear or tea colored?
2) What does this tell you about the spring?
3) Do you see any mineral deposits along the spring? If so, what color(s) do you see?
4) What General classification is this Spring?
5) What type of rock surrounds this spring? Do you see any fossils showing among the rock?
6) Take a picture of yourself and/or your group with GPS at the Spring.
This cache can't be done at night! Please don't post your answers in your log.
Any "FOUND IT" log without your picture and without the correct answers emailed to me will be DELETED.
Thanks and HAPPY CACHING!