Maritimes - Summer 2008

July 5 - 25, 2008

Day 20 - july 24
mactaquac, fredericton & earth caches

Oxbow Lake & Artesian Well

The "No Sugar Tonight" earthcache was all about oxbow lakes and it was one of those ones that really didn't seem that impressive when we did it. On a wet morning with 2 kids in tow we didn't try to go around the lake. We did however scramble down to the edge to do the experiment which was to throw a leaf in the lake and measure how fast it floated away. The point was that the leaf didn't move since it's a lake, not a river. Then we went across the bridge to the river itself to repeat the experiment so that Samantha could see the difference. Not overly impressive at the time but just to prove that these earthcaches do teach something, Samantha has since then repeated the experiment herself at other bodies of water and when there's no movement she says "look, is that an oxbow lake?!". very cute!

The Route 8 Mystery Waters was of course another artesian well. We've seen a lot of these wells on our trip but this one was a little different not having the modern plastic spout and all. The bucket filled a lot quicker than we thought it would!

From the No Sugar Tonight Earthcache description:
"Rivers around NB… yup we got em, but as time goes on rivers change and sometimes create what is called an Oxbow Lake. This Earthcache will bring you to an area riddled with not only this particular Oxbow Lake, but to an area which will eventually be riddled with them.

An Oxbow Lake is formed by bank erosion. Specifically, where a Meander exists in the course of a river, over time the river’s velocity will etch out particles from the start of a meander, and deposit them further downstream. This not only forces the meander into a wider angle, but also cuts into the receiving bank where the water first turns.

Over time, this constant river bank erosion at either end of the meander cause the two sides to eventually meet, thus cutting off the original river way and making the river run in more of a straight line as opposed to the curves it had before. This action cuts off the two ends of the old meander and eventually creates a U-shaped lake which is then called an Oxbow Lake. An Oxbow itself is another name for a meander."

The rain has stopped but the grass is still pretty wet... hence the fashionable attire!

The river that originally created the oxbow lake.

Samantha and Rubby checking out the 'mystery waters'.

The constuction surrounding this artesian well
is a bit different from what we've seen previously.

A happy camper despite the fact that this well doesn't lend itself to filling up our bottles.

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