Brandywine Falls Again EarthCache

Brandywine Falls was created by both volcanic eruptions and glaciers, and here's how it all happened:

• Volcanic Activity: A long time ago, between 10,000 and 40,000 years ago, lava from the nearby Mt. Cayley volcano flowed through the Cheakamus Valley. This lava created a hard rock layer called basalt at the top of the falls.

• Glacial Influence: At the time of the eruptions, the area was covered in a thick sheet of ice from glaciers. The lava flows likely happened under this ice, following the valleys that the glaciers had already made.

• Erosion by Brandywine Creek: After the glaciers melted, the water formed Brandywine Creek. The creek then started to flow over the hard basalt rock and wore away the softer rocks below it, like silt and gravel, creating the falls and the deep gorge around it.

• Undercutting and Waterfall Formation: Over time, the creek eroded the softer rocks beneath the basalt, which caused the hard basalt to break off and fall, forming the waterfall.

• Columnar Jointing: The basalt rocks at the falls have a special pattern called columnar jointing. This happens when lava cools and cracks into columns, which is a sign of cooled lava flows.

• Flooding: Some big floods, possibly caused by ice dams breaking, might have helped speed up the carving of the deep gorge.

• Rock Layers: The falls have a layer of hard rock on top (called Berea Sandstone), which protects the softer rocks underneath. These softer rocks are made of mud that settled on the ocean floor millions of years ago.

Brandywine Falls is 70 meters tall and the water flows over layers of basalt before it reaches Daisy Lake to the south. The falls have carved out a bowl-shaped crater that looks amazing. While the falls are beautiful, the most interesting thing is the layers of lava that form the walls of the bowl.

Geology of Brandywine Falls:

The basalt rock layers at Brandywine Falls are part of the oldest lava flows that came from Mt. Cayley. These flows probably happened in just a few thousand years, between 10,000 and 40,000 years ago. At that time, the area was covered by ice from glaciers, and the lava flowed beneath the ice in tunnels. The lava formed the north-south ridges and valleys that can still be seen around the falls today.