Kennebec Esker EarthCache
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(not chosen)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
This esker runs along the Kennebec river and can be noticed as you drive from Bingham on Rt. 16. along the river side of the road.
I am quoting the Maine resident authority on eskers...Northwoods Explorer:
During the most recent glacial episode in Maine the ice sheet became several thousand feet thick and covered the highest mountains in the state. Climatic warming forced the ice sheet to start receding and melting as early as 21,000 years ago. Melt water streams in tunnels within the decaying ice deposited some of the glacial sand and gravel. There are over thirty of these deposits that were left behind as ridges (eskers) when the surrounding ice disappeared. Maine's esker systems can be traced for up to 120 miles, and are among the longest in the country. C. T. Jackson (1837), who conducted the first geological survey of Maine, made an interesting remark about one such esker: "I could not help thinking, as I looked upon this natural embankment, that it would be easy for an antiquarian to mistake this ridge for a work of art, and to suppose that some of the aboriginal inhabitants of our country knew how to annihilate distance by rail roads."
The esker is one of the most striking landforms of glacial deposition. In low-lying, boggy terrain such as the Berry Bog area to the west, these snaking ridges dominate the terrain, providing vantage points and dry route ways. Eskers are usually formed of washed sand and gravel. The free-draining ridges are easily quarried, making eskers attractive targets for aggregate extraction, which is what has happened along this esker in several places. The sediments are usually horizontally- and cross-bedded sands and gravels but vary widely, a reflection of variations in flow regimes and in sediment supply. Eskers are discontinuous because sedimentation may not take place along the entire length of the sub-glacial tunnel. Blocks of the overlying ice may fall into the tunnel. Alternatively, an esker ridge may become segmented by erosion; either by melt water during deglaciation or by the action of post-glacial rivers.
Your educational portion of this earthcache is to stop at the posted coords and estimate the height of the esker. At some point along the esker try to take your picture with your gpsr and the esker in the background and post it with your log. Email me your answer to the estimate but not the pic.This can be a busy road so take precautions while viewing the esker.
Unfortunately, if you drive to the top of the esker, you will find a transfer station which I find hard to believe in this day of ecological awareness but, never-the-less, there it is! We measured the esker at two miles before the road veered away from the river and the esker but it appeared to run a little further. This is a Delorme Unique Natural Area known as the Bingham Esker.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)
Treasures
You'll collect a digital Treasure from one of these collections when you find and log this geocache:
Loading Treasures