Welcome at Runaway Ghaut
Montserrat is a Caribbean island in the Leeward Islands, which is part of the chain known as the Lesser Antilles, in the West Indies.
I would like to show you Runaway ghaut, Here you will learn something about what deep cuts in landforms are called. You will also learn how to distinguish between a gorge, ravine, chasm or an abyss. Often they are just small features. Let's clear it up together. After all: The question of all questions is why do they call this place Runaway Ghaut?
LOGGING REQUIREMENTS:
Please answer the following questions, to your best ability, using the information above. When you feel you have them answered correctly, send me your answers via the Geocaching websites messaging feature, or through email.
Any "Found It" logs without the requirements being sent in, will be deleted. You can log your find immediately and you must also add a picture of yourself or your GPS at the location (compulsory).
To log this EarthCache please wander around and look at the area and what is available to you visually, consider the information given and perhaps if you need to do some research of your own, then message me with the following answers to the best of your ability
Tasks:
1. Do you think Runaway Ghaut is correctly named as a Ghaut? Please explain in your own words what you are thinking about it.
2. Look at the rocks on both sides of the ghaut. What kind of rock that could be? (small help: is it volcanic or limestone) Do you see any grooves? Which geological process has created these grooves? (small help: could it be erosion, weathering, sedimentation or tectonic activity?)
3. A picture of you, your mascot or GPS at Runaway Ghaut is mandatory.
The geology of the island is mostly volcanic. The main event with the local volcanoes was the 1995 eruption of the previously dormant Soufrière Hills volcano. Uplift caused by the volcanism created very few limestone areas.
At this place, fresh water flowing all over the year from the mountain into this Ghaut. It’s clear and fresh and can be used as drinking water.
What’s the difference between a Chasm and a Gorge?
As nouns the difference between chasm and cavern is that chasm is a deep, steep-sided rift, gap or fissure; a gorge or abyss while a cavern is a large cave.
Very often a Chasm is rhomboid in shape (diamond-shaped), that forms deep in the crust through transverse faulting of two blocks.
A Gap should be referred to as a Water Gap, by definition a Water Gap is a gap that flowing water has carved through a mountain range or mountain ridge.
So what is a Gorge?
The term "gorge" comes from the french word gorge, which means throat or neck.
By geological definition a gorge is a deep, narrow valley with very steep sides, usually where a river passes through mountains or an area of hard rock. Very often a gorge is created by erosion of the sturdy limestone cliffs:
- by wind erosion: wind can either blow away small particles and thus remove material - or erode rocks through carried particles (sand, dust) or
- by river erosion: flowing water (e.g. rivers) creates depressions in the surface.
A gorge is often smaller than a canyon, although both words are used to describe deep, narrow valleys with steep sides, rocky walls located between hills or mountains with a stream or river running along their bottom.
It’s a place usually where a river passes through mountains or an area of hard rock.
In summary one could say, a gorge is is a deep narrow passage with steep rocky sides; a ravine.
So what's a ravine?
It's very simple: a ravine is a deep, narrow gorge with steep sides.
And what’s an abyss?
That’s easy: An abyss is a deep or seemingly bottomless chasm.
It's still easy so far, right? But let's explain it in order
A cavern is just one type of cave. It‘s a type of cave where sometimes grow "speleothems." Speleothems grow because stuff keeps getting added to make special formations.
What’s a den?
The den is a small cavern or hollow place on the side of a hill, or among rocks; especially, a cave used by a wild animal for shelter or concealment while the cave is a large, naturally-occurring cavity formed underground, or in the face of a cliff or a hillside
And finally what is a ghaut?
The word ghaut (pronounced: ghut, gut) is found only in Montserrat, St Kitts and the Virgin Islands (where they prefer to spell it "gut").
Ghauts are steep ravines that send rainwater rushing down from the mountains into the sea.
Runaway Ghaut in Montserrat
The most famous on the island is Runaway Ghaut, on the side of the road just north of Salem, named after a famous confrontation between the English and French from which the latter apparently ran away. It is valley or cleft in a hill-side, especially one down which water runs to the sea after rains.
Because of the permanence of their runs and the reliability of their flows, Runaway Ghaut plays an instrumental role in maintaining the lush forest ecosystems of Montserrat and have historically played an equally important role as a source for clean drinking water for the island’s human populations. And while most ghauts only run seasonally, due to their entirely weather-dependent source, this ghaut is noted across the Caribbean that maintain a constant trickle year round.
So in all dry periods you only see a trickle of water here, but as soon as it has rained just a little, a beautiful spring appears at the coordinates. You can watch the inflow very well.
The process of Erosion
Erosion is a transformation in soil and rocks, or rather, the process of erosion, transport and sedimentation of soil and rocks. It occurs naturally but can be intensified and even provoked by human action.
The classification of erosions is conditioned by factors such as the type of erosive agent (water, winds and living beings), the relief, the geological structure of the eroded terrain and the previous processes to which it was subjected.
Here are some of the main types of erosion:
• Rain erosion
It is the type of erosion caused by rainwater. In fact, precipitation water is the major responsible for 7 processes. Rain causes the natural erosion of the rocks and aggravates the process of erosion of soil degraded by human action. The proportion of erosion, therefore, depends not only on the intensity and volume of rainwater, but especially on the type of treatment given to the terrain.
• River erosion
It is caused by the water action of the rivers and streams and deepens the valleys in relation to the surrounding lands. River erosion is aggravated when the riparian forest is removed, because the banks are worn by the force of the waters, which intensifies the silting processes of the rivers.
• Marine erosion
Caused by the action of the waters of the seas and oceans, marine erosion causes the erosion of coastal rocks and soils, contributing to the formation of beaches and coastal landscapes, such as the cliffs.
• Wind erosion
It is caused by the action of the winds, which, little by little, are displacing particles from rocks and soil and acting in the transport of sediments. This type of erosion is much slower than that caused by water and is more noticeable in places where the climate has low averages of precipitation and humidity.
• Glacial erosion
In regions where there are negative temperatures, there is freezing of the water contained in the surface and in the underground. When the water freezes, its volume increases - it expands -, and this expansion generates the movement in blocks, which causes the material to move. In addition, the water particles contained in the soils when frozen also move, contributing to the erosive processes in these places.
• Gravitational erosion
As its name suggests, this type of erosion occurs on terrain with high slopes, such as in mountain ranges. Materials from the upper areas, by virtue of gravity, "fall" into the lower areas. Depending on the protection of soil or rock and the type of material, this process can be gradual or move large blocks of rock.
Source references:
https://wikidiff.com/chasm/gorge
www.atlasobscura.com/places/runaway-ghaut
www.showcaves.com/english/car/region/ms.html
www.vaia.com/en-us/textbooks/physics/the-cosmic-perspective-8-edition/chapter-9/problem-4-define-each-of-the-four-major-geological-processes/
www.pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsl/books/edited-volume/1534/chapter-abstract/107241642/The-volcanic-evolution-of-Montserrat-using-40Ar?redirectedFrom=fulltext