Dover Stone Church Preserve offers several miles of hiking trails that showcase the surrounding landscape. The preserve is best known for its natural cavern, which resembles the arch of a Gothic church. The unique cavern and scenic trails make the preserve a popular destination for hikers and other outdoor enthusiasts.
The Stone Amphitheatre is a natural formation created through a combination of several geologic processes, primarily through the action of water eddying, where circular currents slowly carved out the bowl-shaped structure over time. Water eddying occurs when obstacles like rocks, riverbanks, or changes in the riverbed redirect the flow, causing the water to spin in a circular motion. Several factors can influence this process, including the velocity of the water, the gradient of the stream, and the size and shape of the obstacles that disrupt the flow. Faster water flow and larger obstructions typically result in stronger eddies, which concentrate erosion more intensely in specific areas, gradually deepening and widening the formation. While you may wonder how water eddying created this feature when standing halfway up a mountain, glacial ice might have initially cracked and shaped the surface during its advance. However, it was the powerful meltwater released as the glaciers retreated that led to the amphitheater's formation. The rock in this stone amphitheater is metamorphic, typically resistant to erosion. However, the continuous action of water eddying over long periods can gradually wear it down, especially along natural fractures or weaknesses in the stone.
Logging Requirements:
- Examine the inside of the stone amphitheater closely. Describe the texture, shape, and orientation.
- Looking around, how do you think the surrounding topography influenced the location of the stone amphitheater? Assuming the meltwater from the glaciers flowed south (opposite the direction of retreat), where do you think the obstacle must have been located, and are you able to see any signs of what the obstacle might have been? Explain.
- Upload a photo with the Stone Amphitheater. You don't have to be in the photo, though it is strongly encouraged.