Welcome to Honey Run Falls!
This park is open 365 days a year. In the summer it is a cool place to dip your toes (bring water shoes) and in the winter the Knox County Parks Department hosts "Fire and Ice" . It is a spectacular night event where over 600 luminaries are placed along the trails to both to the river and the falls.
This area is suitable for all ages and offers trails, benches, dogs on leash, and port-a-pots.
The posted coordinates are a short 5 minute walk from the parking lot and place you near a slump rock. From this point and towards the waterfall is where you can find answers to the Earthcache questions.
Now the fun part!
The Mississippian-age (359mya to 331mya) Black Hand sandstone member of the Cuyahoga Formation creates the 25 feet high waterfall and surrounding cliffs. The sandstone is grayish white, yellow, to tan, medium to coarse grained, medium to massive bedded, well sorted, angular to sub-angular, moderately to poorly cemented, with some dispersed quartz pebbles.
Near the waterfall, look for honeycomb weathering, large slump blocks, and several styles of bedding in the sandstone, including cross bebedding.
Source: Knox County Parks Department
Honeycomb weathering, also known as honeycombs, honeycombed sandstone, is a form of cavernous weathering and subcategory of tafoni that consists of regular, tightly adjoining, and commonly patterned cavities that are developed in weathered bedrock; are less than 2 cm (0.79 in) in size; and resemble a honeycombed structure. Honeycombs also been called alveoli, lacework, stonelace, fretting or miniature tafoni weathering.The size at which honeycombs are differentiated from tafoni varies greatly in the scientific literature and lacks an official consensus.
Source: Wikipedia
Such weathering is caused by capillary action, which draws water to the rock surface; the water then dissolves the cement holding the grains together, resulting in a very irregular, patchy surface resembling a honeycomb.
Soirce:https://ohiodnr.gov › geologyPDF by Mike Angle
Tafoni/honeycomb weathering is the small, rounded, smooth edged openings in the rock surface. They can occur in clusters looking much like a sponge and are nearly always on a vertical or inclined face protected from surface runoff.
In other places, you might see a straight line of holes in the rock. There, water has dissolved pockets of less-well-bonded sandstone, often at the contact between two rock layers. Tapping a rock surface will sometimes result in a "hollow" sound, indicating the presence of pockets within.
Tafoni/honeycomb which starts along horizontal joints and grows upward is called basal tafoni.
Tafoni/honeycomb that begins along vertical or near vertical joints are called sidewall tafoni.
Logging Requirements
To log this cache you will need to visit the falls. Based on your reading and your observations, answer the following questions:
1. Would you describe this as honeycomb or tafoni?
2. What type of pattern do you see in the distribution of the tafoni/honeycomb? i.e. – clusters, lines, pairs, etc.
3. Would you describe this as a basal or sidewall tafoni/honeycomb?
4. Post with your log a photo of yourself or a personal item.
Happy Adventures!