Welcome to the West Virginia Botanical Gardens!

This park is a beautiful place to explore with lots of trails and diverse environments. Not to mention there are a lot of geocaches to look for in the area! This is a simple earthcache that will take you to one of the most unique areas in the park. Read all the signage available as well as make your own observations to obtain credit for this earth cache.

Swamps and Marshes

Ecologists use the term swamp to designate a wetland dominated by woody vegetation, trees, and shrubs. Swamps are the most common type of wetland in West Virginia. They are also the most diverse and most variable and include some of the rarest plant communities in the state. The formation, persistence, size, and function of wetlands are controlled by hydrologic processes. Distribution and differences in wetland type, vegetative composition, and soil type are caused primarily by geology, topography, and climate. Wetlands occur on flood plains--for example, the broad bottom-land hardwood forests and river swamps (forested wetlands) of southern rivers and many of the narrow riparian zones along streams in the Western United States.

They perform similar ecological functions which are of value to man. These include: 1) Fish and wildlife habitat 2) Habitat for rare, threatened and endangered species 3) Erosion control 4) Water quality improvement 5) Stormwater/flood control 6) Contribution of organic (plant) material to the bay food chain 7) Timber production 8) Recreational opportunities and scenic beauty.

Nontidal Wetlands

Nontidal wetlands are inland, freshwater areas not subject to tidal influence. They are typically areas where the water table is at or near the surface, or the land is covered by shallow water. The term "nontidal wetlands" encompasses a variety of environments such as marshes and swamps, bottomland hardwood forests, wet meadows, inland bogs and the shallow areas of lakes and ponds. Inland (nontidal) wetlands are found in all States. Some States, such as West Virginia, have few large wetlands, but contain many small wetlands associated with streams.

Wet Meadows: Wet meadows are a type of marsh that commonly occurs in poorly drained areas such as shallow lake basins, low-lying farmland, and the land between shallow marshes and upland areas. Some wet meadows are found high in the mountains on poorly drained soil. These wetlands, which often resemble grasslands, are typically drier than other marshes except during periods of seasonal high water. For most of the year wet meadows are without standing water, though the high water table allows the soil to remain saturated. A variety of water-loving grasses, sedges, rushes, and wetland wildflowers proliferate in the highly fertile soil of wet meadows.

Prairie Potholes: Prairie potholes are depressional wetlands (primarily freshwater marshes) found most often in the Upper Midwest, especially North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. This formerly glaciated landscape is pockmarked with an immense number of potholes, which fill with snowmelt and rain in the spring. Some prairie pothole marshes are temporary, while others may be essentially permanent. Here a pattern of rough concentric circles develops. Submerged and floating aquatic plants take over the deeper water in the middle of the pothole while bulrushes and cattails grow closer to shore. Wet, sedgy marshes lie next to the upland.

Vernal Pools: Vernal pools are seasonal depressional wetlands that occur under the Mediterranean climate conditions of the West Coast and in glaciated areas of northeastern and midwestern states. They are covered by shallow water for variable periods from winter to spring, but may be completely dry for most of the summer and fall. These wetlands range in size from small puddles to shallow lakes and are usually found in a gently sloping plain of grassland. Western vernal pools are sometimes connected to each other by small drainages known as vernal swales, forming complexes. Beneath vernal pools lies either bedrock or a hard clay layer in the soil that helps keep water in the pool.

Playa Lakes: Playa lakes are round hollows in the ground in the Southern High Plains of the United States. They are ephemeral, meaning that they are only present at certain times of the year. The temporal nature of playa lakes led to confusion on the part of early European explorers, some of whom described the region as a desert and others a land of millions of small lakes. Most playas fill with water only after spring rainstorms when freshwater collects in the round depressions of the otherwise flat landscape of West Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado, and Kansas. There are also a few saltwater-filled playas. These are fed by water from underlying aquifers, which brings salt with it as it percolates up through the soil. As the water evaporates, the salt is left behind in the increasingly salty playas. There are many theories as to the origin of playas, but the most widely accepted are that playas are either carved by wind or formed by land subsidence (they are sinkholes). Whatever their origin, playas are important to humans, animals and plants of the High Plains.

Logging Requirements

To obtain credit for this earthcache, you will need to visit the geological formation at the WV Botanical Gardens and answer questions about the area. The answers can be found by using the information on the cache page and your observations at the posted coordinates. Please send me a message with the six answers before logging this earthcache. Attach your picture with your log.

According to the nearby signage...

1. ... what is the specific name for this type of wetland?

2. ... explain the process of how saturated peat stores water and what this means for the soil and clays?
 

According to your own observations...

3. ... which of the wetland types discussed on the cache page could this area be classified as?

4. ... take an elevation reading to GZ. How do you think elevation affects the surrounding geology of the area?

5. ... examine the soil just over the edge of the boardwalk. Describe the soil and moisture content. Is the soil wet or dry? How does the moisture content affect the soil in this wetland as opposed to the rest of the park?

6. ... is the bedrock of the wetland exposed? If so, describe what you can see from the observation deck. If not, why do you think this wetland, in particular, does not have exposed bedrock? Is the bedrock exposed anywhere in the park?

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7. Take a picture of you, or a personal item (face not required), at ground zero and attach it to your log.