Kincaid Park's Kame and Kettle Topography EarthCache
Kincaid Park's Kame and Kettle Topography
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(not chosen)
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According to geologists, over 14,000 years ago glaciers then
covering the city of Anchorage began to recede back to what is now
Knik Glacier, leaving kames and kettles
behind for our enjoyment at Kincaid Park.
This is an EarthCache -
without container or logbook - where you'll observe, document
through measurements and and report your findings via email to earn
credit for this cache. Logs which do not conform to these
requirements will be deleted, as this cache requires a
demonstrated acquisition of knowledge about the geologic forces at
work in this section of Kincaid Park. Read all the
requirements for completing this cache before you visit the park,
and equip yourself with the necessary tools.
Welcome to Little Campbell Lake - a historical record of a
glacier's passage across this land. The coordinates listed have
brought you to the parking lot and trailhead where your journey of
discovery will begin. This is a kind of depositional
landform - created when rock and sediments collected by the
glacier further 'upslope' in its passage were deposited here by
melting ice. The sediments and rock were acquired either by mass
wasting of materials slumping onto the glacier surface or from
erosion and grinding as the glacier passed over soils and
rock.
As sediment carried by a glacier is eventually deposited it forms a
variety of features:
Terminal Moraines - ridges of sediment deposited
perpendicular to glacier flow near the terminus (lower end) of a
glacier;
Eskers - sinuous ridges of sand and gravel deposited
in or under ice in a meltwater tunnel;
Kames - hills of sediment that are commonly found
near kettles, thought to be the rock detritus from massive blocks
or sections of the glacier that are broken off and left behind
during a glacier's retreat;
Kettles - depressions that were formed when a massive
buried ice block melts, with a shape like a rounded cooking
pot;
Outwash plains - broad, nearly flat areas of braided
stream sediment formed in front of a glacier as meltwater carries
sand and gravel away from the glacier.
Kincaid Park's topography is classic kame and kettle -
knobs, knolls, and hummocks scattered around pothole depressions,
with relatively smooth contours and steep grades. The park's skiing
and hiking trails are notorious for their undulations. Most flat
ground seen about the park was created by the US Air Force during
the park's tenure in the 1950-1980 era as an antiaircraft missile
base protecting Anchorage. The nearest major terminal moraine is
visible to the north across the waters of Knik Arm (the Elmendorf
Moraine), and geologists haven't classified any of the hillforms
here in Kincaid as eskers because of the lack of long sinuous
connected ridges. Kincaid Park is outside of the major watersheds
of the Anchorage bowl (Rabbit Creek, John's Creek, Campbell Creek,
Hood Creek, Fish Creek, Chester Creek and Ship Creek) as the
topography here doesn't lend itself to conventional stream
drainage. In fact, there's not a stream or creek worthy of a name
anywhere inside Kincaid Park's 1400 acres!
A Kettle is a bowl-shaped depression in the outwash
plain created by a massive block of ice which broke away from the
glacier and was left behind to melt in place. Little Campbell Lake
is a Kettle pond - a body of water that fills the bottom of a
depression to the groundwater table and remains as a pond or small
lake. Many kettles are shallow enough that water trapped within
actually drains rapidly into the gravelly soils beneath to the
water table, leaving behind a dry and relatively deep depression.
It is believed the massive ice blocks which broke off and settled
into the outwash plain here shed their overburden of rocks and
debris as they melted, creating mounds, knolls and hummocks around
the ice-formed kettle. These formations are known as
Kames, and your journey will take you up onto these
kames around the lake during your visit.
To complete this cache you'll need to hike around the lake on
trails climbing up onto the surrounding hills (a journey of perhaps
a mile). Refer to the photograph showing the lake, the trails and
its features. (In wintertime these trails are skier use only -
respect the work that goes into setting these trails and use XC
skis or snowshoe alongside them.)
During your hike compile answers to these four
questions:
1) What is the elevation gain between the dock and the top of the
kame (hill) along the east side of the lake? (estimate using your
GPS altimeter feature or by other estimation methods)
2) What is the distance between the hilltop on the east side of the
lake and the major trail (NOT lakeside) on the west side of the
lake?
3) Where is this lake's water outlet? (Hint - look over the low
ground at the north and south ends of the lake)
4) What are at least three recreational uses of this particular
kame and kettle landform area?
In addition to sending me an email with these answers, post in your
log a photo of yourself on the boardwalk with the lake behind you
to the north (not a requirement, but a nice feature to record your
passage here). Make sure your log includes how many people were in
your group, and don't put answers to the four questions in your
online log! Logs not conforming to
these requirements will be deleted.
Cache placed by permission of the Municipality of Anchorage's
Kincaid Park.
The above information was compiled from
the following source:
L.M. Dilley and T. Dilley, "Guidebook to Geology of Anchorage,
Alaska", 2000 (first edition) Anchorage, AK
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Additional Hints
(No hints available.)