ALLEGHENY NATIONAL FOREST DISCOVERY SERIES
Each of the earthcaches in this series will take you along roads and trails
to discover the wonders that exist in and around the ANF.
Elk - Forest - McKean - Warren
This discovery series was developed as a heartfelt THANK YOU to all who completed the requirements as requested, and wrote positive logs worth the time to read. Complete 24 ECT caches. Send a list of logs (GL links) via message for verification of requirements. Arrange to meet at Cache Condo to pick up your trackable coin.
EARTHCACHE REQUIREMENTS
Each cacher must send his/her own answers BEFORE logging a find. ... "Geocachers must complete the tasks before they log the EarthCache as found." (4.3. EarthCache logging tasks)
Enjoy the journey (learning adventure) as well as the destination (smiley earned). Remember to take only pictures and leave only footprints. To get credit for this Earthcache, complete the following tasks:
NOTE: Answers via message -and- log signature picture are required to post a find for this cache.
1. MESSAGE …. Estimate the size of the mound in cubic feet. (a. How long? – b. How wide? – c. How high? – d. Multiply)
2. MESSAGE …. a. What type of culvert is this? (Arch - Box – Ellipse - Round) ... b. What date is engraved in the stone at the culvert.
3. MESSAGE …. Give two things you observe today that would not have been observable when the culvert was built.
4. LOG …. Explain (scientific or creative) what you think caused the formation of the mounds.
5. LOG …. Post a picture at the mound and at the culvert. Post a picture of your discovery opening. These pictures are your log signature. No spoiler pics..
OPTIONAL - Please respect the time and effort involved in finding and creating this earthcache by adding A B C to your log.
A. Discover another rock opening in/around the ANF, Give coordinates. Identify your rock opening and explain your choice. If you found your rock opening at a geocache/earthcache site, give name of the cache and GC number instead of cooordinates.
B. JOURNEY OF THE MIND ... Science explains what we observe. Relate (in your own words) something you found interesting in the reading. This adds to your learning adventure and your log.
C. JOURNEY OF THE HEART ... Art shares our personal experience of what we see. Share something special you found on site, and why it is special to you ... prose / story / poem / picture. This is a memorable addition to your log and will make other hearts smile.
Journeys of Heart and Mind ...
Stories to Touch the Heart and Puzzles to Challenge the Mind / Rainbow Tree Story
THANK YOU LN for travelling and hiking with RT to complete this Earthcache Trail.
COAL
Coal is an abundant energy resource in Pennyslvania. All of the important coals of Pennsylvania were deposited during a portion of the earth’s history named in honor of our state—the Pennsylvanian Period, which occurred approximately 300 million years ago. There are two main types of coal. ANTHRACITE COAL is mainly found in the eastern areas - hard coal, burns hot but slower and longer, harder to ignite, heavier, found in folded rocks, was more deeply buried (4-5½ miles of sediments). BITUMINOUS COAL is mainly found in the western regions - soft coal, burns hot, lighter, typically found in unfolded rocks, had a shallower burial (1-3 miles of sediments). Coal is described in a variety of ways. MINERS tell us that coal is a black rock that occurs as layers in the earth that can be mined continuously for many miles. A GEOLOGIST describes coal as a black rock composed of thermally altered and highly compressed plant material that grew millions of years ago in swamps and then was buried under great thicknesses of sand and mud. CHEMISTS say that coal is a rock composed mostly of the elements carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, plus smaller amounts of many other elements such as nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorus, and calcium, all combined in highly complex chemical compounds. A BIOLOGIST would point out that carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen are the main constituents of the complex compounds making up living plants, and these same compounds hold energy derived from the sun.
Historically, coal was the fuel of choice for transportation and other steam-powered applications and was essential, in the form of coke, for the production of steel. Today, coal is used mostly by utility power plants for the generation of electricity—sometimes referred to as “coal by wire.” Other significant uses of coal include synfuel production, steel making, heat and power for other industrial plants, and residential and commercial heating. Some of the largest, most modern and productive underground coal mines in the United States are located in southwestern Pennsylvania. The coal industry will continue to play a vital role in Pennsylvania’s economy for decades to come.
The economic benefits derived from the widespread use of coal have had a serious impact on the environment. Acid drainage from coal-mining operations has caused extensive pollution of streams, and loss of fish and other wildlife. Mining also results in disruption of groundwater resources, soil erosion, and scarring of the land. Abandoned piles of waste material left behind from coal mining and coal processing blight many areas and contribute to surface water and groundwater pollution.
FORMATION OF COAL
There are two basic requirements for the formation of coal - a source of plant material and preservation of that material from decay. The change from plant fragments to coal is gradual, consisting of many stages. After dead plant debris sinks into the waters of the swamp, bacteria go to work, breaking down the cell structure and reducing the plant material to rotted wood and leaves, fine fragments, or a jellylike mass. Bacterial action probably continues for only a short time after the peat is buried under sand and mud deposits in the swamp. As the layer of sediment grows thicker, its weight compacts the peat to a fraction of its original thickness, driving out moisture and closing pore space. Temperature increases steadily as the peat is buried deeper and deeper below the surface of the earth. As thousands of feet of sediments are added, the increasing heat sequentially alters peat to lignite, subbituminous coal, bituminous coal, and, finally, anthracite. This process of coalification works slowly and brings about these changes over large areas.
The Pennsylvania coals were formed in river floodplains and coastal swamps. Wherever a swamp existed, a layer of coal-forming peat accumulated. The layer was then buried by mud and sand. This happened again and again, and as time passed, each layer of peat became coal, and the covering sediments hardened into sandstone, shale, and limestone. The final result was a sequence of rocks more than 4,000 feet thick, consisting of widespread layers of coal separated by thick intervals of other rock types. Roughly, it resembles a thick book, in which every twentieth page is made of black paper to represent the coal seams.
MOUNDS
The pursuit and mining of coal caused many changes in the landscape of Pennsylvania. There are four of these mounds - one more to the south and two more to the north. According to a local resident, a railroad was under construction which required tunneling through the mountainside. This site was abandoned in lieu of an easier location - the railroad grade upon which you walked to get to the trail leading to the mound. Why was there construction at four different locations resulting in four mounds? Alternately, according to a local historian, these mounds represent an effort to find a coal seam. The coal seam ended several miles south, and thus the efforts to find the seam were unsuccessful. Why are the tops of the mounds relatively flat?
DIRECTIONS: Posted coordinates are for a point along the old Erie railroad grade. Go up the path until you see the mound on your left. You can get to the top of the mound by either climbing the front which has a fairly steep terrain -or- climbing either side further back, which has a gentler terrain but the way is littered with forest debris.
CULVERT
Much of the railroad network in Pennsylvania was specifically constructed to transport coal. The railroad grade is the remnant of the Erie Railroad. The Culvert was constructed to bridge the underlying creek.
DIRECTIONS: Return to the old Erie railroad grade. Turn right and continue a relatively short distance until you get to the culvert. You can get to the bottom by either descending near the coordinates -or- by following the gentler path a short way back.
ROCK OPENINGS IN THE ALLEGHENY NATIONAL FOREST
Rocks display a variety of openings within them. Throughout the forest, these openings are mainly the result of erosion or the movement of earth's tectonic plates. The native rocks iare sandstone (feels gritty), shale (smells like wet mud when moistened), conglomerate (pieces of other rocks), limestone (fizzes in vinegar).
CAVE - A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground large enough for a human to enter. Caves are exogene, meaning it is deeper than its opening is wide.
EROSIONAL CAVES - Most caves within the ANF are formed from the erosion of sandstone. Since there is little to no calcitic rock here, you will not find any solutional caves.
TECTONIC CAVES - Formed by a mass movement of the bedrock. The rocks separate along joints or fractures, and are pulled apart mechanically. The resulting cave is usually a high, narrow fissure that has nearly planar walls with matching patterns on opposite sides. Rock cities, a type of tectonic cave, are found within the ANF. "Rock Cities are an example of tectonic caves. "Rock cities develop from flat-lying, massive beds of resistant conglomerate or sandstone exposed on hilltops above much weaker beds of shale or siltstone. Widely spaced vertical fractures called joints outline the blocks. Erosion of the hillslope proceeds more rapidly in the weak beds than in the conglomerate, leaving it overhanging so the blocks eventually tumble. Frost heave and root-pry in the joints aid in the process, particularly in the early stages of separation. In time, some buildings may creep far from their source."
TALUS CAVES - Talus caves are formed between boulders that have naturally fallen into a random heap. They are usually small in size.
ROCK SHELTER ... aka rockhouse, crepuscular cave, bluff shelter, or abri. Rock shelters are produced when the bedrock erosion takes place in insoluble rocks. Rock Shelters within the ANF are formed where the resistant sandstone overlies the relatively erosion-susceptible shale. Weathering by a stream might wear away the shale leaving behind a rock shelter with a sandstone roof. Shelters are endogene, meaning the opening is wider than its depth.
CAVITY - These are openings in rocks that are homes to a variety of small animals, but too small for humans to enter.
CREVICE - Long, tight space varying in size from large to small. Because it is usually hard to reach, it is a great hiding place for creatures such as reptiles and insects..
FISSURE - A crack in rock along which there is a distinct separation.
FRACTURE - Any separation that divides the rock into two or more pieces.
RESOURCES
COAL http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/topogeo/coal/index.aspx
COAL IN PENNSYLVANIA Edmunds, W. E., 2002, Coal in Pennsylvania (2nd ed.):
Pennsylvania Geological Survey, 4th ser., Educational Series 7, 28 p.
LESSON PLAN http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/topogeo/classroom/teachers/elem6.aspx
Geology of Caves ... Erosional/Glacial Caves ... Shelter Caves ... Tectonic caves ... Abri or Cave