Shortest River in the World EarthCache

Geocache Description:

Giant Springs is a State park that has the operating hours of 8am till Sunset. The area has two natural sites to take advantage of for this earthcache. The first is a natural spring (Giant Springs) and the second is one of the shortest rivers in the world (Roe River).

Giant Springs is a large first magnitude spring (see chart below). The springs are formed by an opening in a part of the Madison aquifer which is an extremely large aquifer underlying 5 U.S. States and 3 Canadian Provinces. The conduit between the mountains and the spring is the geological stratum found in parts of the northwest United States called Madison Limestone. Although some of the underground water from the Little Belt Mountains escapes to form Giant Springs, some stays underground and continues flowing, joining sources from losing streams in the Black Hills, Big Horn Mountains and other areas. The aquifer eventually surfaces in Canada.

Part of the water at Giant Springs comes from the Little Belt Mountains which is over 60 miles away.

The springs feed into the Roe River which intern feeds into the Missouri River. The length of the Roe has been submitted to Guinness Book of World records and was accepted for a short time as the Shortest river in the world.

In order for you to get credit i will need the following questions answered. The answers are on the various information plaques around the river and will need to be emailed to the cache owner.

1. How long is the Roe River?

2. When did Lewis and Clark arrive to the area?

3. How long does the water take to arrive at the spring from the Little Belt Mountains?

4. What temperature is the water at all year long?

5. How many gallons a day does the spring release into the Missouri River?

Please do not include these answers in your log. Email them to the cache owner. Thank you.