Willow Spring Earthcache EarthCache
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Willow Spring is located in a beautiful small city park in
Summerville Georgia. It can be accessed by just about anyone
including handicapped folks.
What is a Spring?
A spring is a point where groundwater flows out of the ground, and
is thus where the aquifer surface meets the ground surface.
Dependent upon the constancy of the water source (rainfall or
snowmelt that infiltrates the earth), a spring may be ephemeral
(intermittent) or perennial (continuous).
Water issuing from an artesian spring rises to a higher elevation
than the top of the confined aquifer from which it issues. When
water issues from the ground it may form into a pool or flow
downhill, in surface streams. Sometimes a spring is termed a
seep.
Minerals become dissolved in the water as it moves through the
underground rocks. This may give the water flavor and even carbon
dioxide bubbles, depending upon the nature of the geology through
which it passes. This is why spring water is often bottled and sold
as mineral water, although the term is often the subject of
deceptive advertising. Springs that contain significant amounts of
minerals are sometimes called 'mineral springs'. Springs that
contain large amounts of dissolved sodium salts, mostly sodium
carbonate, are called 'soda springs'. Many resorts have developed
around mineral springs known as spa towns.
Water emanating from karst topography is another type of spring,
often called a resurgence as much of the water may come from one or
more sinkholes at a higher altitude. Karst springs generally are
not subjected to as great a degree of ground filtering as spring
water which may have continuously passed through soils or a porous
aquifer.
Springs are often classified by the volume of the water they
discharge. The largest springs are called "first-magnitude,"
defined as springs that discharge water at a rate of at least 100
cubic feet per second (2800 L/s). The scale for spring flow is as
follows:
Magnitude Flow (ft³/s, gal/min, pint/min) Flow (L/s)
1st Magnitude > 100 ft³/s 2800 L/s
2nd Magnitude 10 to 100 ft³/s 280 to 2800 L/s
3rd Magnitude 1 to 10 ft³/s 28 to 280 L/s
4th Magnitude 100 US gal/min to 1 ft³/s (448 US gal/min) 6.3 to 28
L/s
5th Magnitude 10 to 100 gal/min 0.63 to 6.3 L/s
6th Magnitude 1 to 10 gal/min 63 to 630 mL/s
7th Magnitude 1 pint to 1 gal/min 8 to 63 mL/s
8th Magnitude Less than 1 pint/min 8 mL/s
0 Magnitude no flow (sites of past/historic flow)
How are Springs Formed?
Willow Spring is actually the result of Karst topography which
is common for the North Georgia mountains. Springs may be formed in
any sort of rock. Small springs are found in many places. In North
Georgia, the largest springs are formed in limestone and dolomite
in the karst topography of the Southern Appalachian Mountains. Both
dolomite and limestone fracture relatively easily. When weak
carbonic acid (formed by rainwater percolating through organic
matter in the soil) enters these fractures it dissolves bedrock.
When it reaches a horizontal crack or a layer of non-dissolving
rock such as sandstone or shale, it begins to cut sideways, forming
an underground stream. As the process continues, the water hollows
out more rock, eventually admitting an airspace, at which point the
spring stream can be considered a cave. This process is supposed to
take tens to hundreds of thousands of years to
complete.
To log this earthcache you must post a picture of you
holding your GPS with the spring in the background, I want to see
your face in the picture which means no pictures of just your
GPS...and email me the answers to the following questions;
1)What type of Spring is Willow Spring?
2)How wide is the pool where Willow Spring emerges?
3)What is the aproximate flow rate of Willow Spring which makes it
what classification?
Please do not post your answers in your log.
Any found logs without the required picture posted with your log or
the correct emailed answers will be promptly deleted without
notice.
Here is a self-portrait to prove it can be done the correct
way...
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