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18-407: Mendon Ponds contains a number of unique glacially created land structures, including a kettle hole known as the "Devil's Bathtub", eskers , a floating sphagnum moss peat bog , and kames . At the northernwestern end of the line of other glacial ponds and lakes near the meromictic "Devil's Bathtub", there is a sphagnum moss peat bog, where the build-up of moss has created a floating island in

36-415: A combination of the two, it is termed a kettle pond or kettle wetland , if vegetated. Kettle ponds that are not affected by the groundwater table will usually become dry during the warm summer months, in which case they are deemed ephemeral . If water in a kettle becomes acidic due to decomposing organic plant matter, it becomes a kettle bog ; or, if underlying soils are lime -based and neutralize

54-429: Is a glacial landform , an irregularly shaped hill or mound composed of sand , gravel and till that accumulates in a depression on a retreating glacier , and is then deposited on the land surface with further melting of the glacier. Kames are often associated with kettles , and this is referred to as kame and kettle or knob and kettle topography . The word kame is a variant of comb ( kame , or kaim

72-474: Is generated when streams of meltwater flow away from the glacier and deposit sediment to form broad outwash plains called sandurs . When the ice blocks melt, kettle holes are left in the sandur. When the development of numerous kettle holes disrupt sandur surfaces, a jumbled array of ridges and mounds form, resembling kame and kettle topography. Kettle holes can also occur in ridge shaped deposits of loose rock fragments called till . Kettle holes can form as

90-406: Is headquartered near the park's southwestern edge. Mendon Ponds Park provides many recreational facilities, including 21 miles (34 km) of hiking and sightseeing trails , shelters and lodges, fishing . A sensory garden is also present within the park catering to disabled patrons. The park is a popular destination for equestrians with its many miles of riding trails and unique scenery. During

108-419: Is increased friction. The ice becomes buried in the sediment and when the ice melts, a depression is left called a kettle hole, creating a dimpled appearance on the outwash plain. Lakes often fill these kettles; these are called kettle hole lakes. Another source is the sudden drainage of an ice-dammed lake and when the block melts, the hole it leaves behind is a kettle. As the ice melts, ramparts can form around

126-488: Is not originally shaped by meltwater, but by the ice itself and has a quite regular shape. It occurs in fine-grained material, such as clay or shale , not in sands and gravels. And drumlins usually have concentric layers of material, as the ice successively plasters new layers in its movement. Kames are not normally located in proximity to one another, however in Edmonton , Alberta, numerous kames are found nearby, forming

144-675: Is the Old Scottish word meaning 'comb'), which has the meaning "crest" among others. The geological term was introduced by Thomas Jamieson in 1874. According to White, "kames were formed by meltwater which deposited more or less washed material at irregular places in and along melting ice. At places the material is very well washed and stratified; at others it is more poorly washed, with inclusions of till masses that fell from ice but were covered before they were completely washed. Kame gravels thus tend to be variable and range from fine to coarse grained and even to cobbly and boulder." With

162-722: The acidic conditions somewhat, it becomes a kettle peatland . Kettle bogs are closed ecosystems because they have no water source other than precipitation. Acidic kettle bogs and fresh water kettles are important ecological niches for some symbiotic species of flora and fauna. The Kettle Moraine , a region of Wisconsin covering an area from Green Bay to south-central Wisconsin, has numerous kettles, moraines and other glacial features. It has many kettle lakes, some of which are 100 to 200 feet (61 m) deep. The Prairie Pothole Region extends from northern Alberta , Canada to Iowa , United States and includes thousands of small sloughs and lakes. Kame A kame , or knob ,

180-578: The edge of kettle holes generated by jökulhlaups. The development of distinct types of ramparts depends on the concentration of rock fragments contained in the melted ice block and on how deeply the block was buried by sediment. Most kettle holes are less than two kilometres in diameter, although some in the U.S. Midwest exceed ten kilometres. Puslinch Lake in Ontario, Canada, is the largest kettle lake in Canada spanning 160 hectares (400 acres). Fish Lake in

198-456: The edge of the kettle hole. The lakes that fill these holes are seldom more than 10 m (33 ft) deep and eventually fill with sediment. In acidic conditions, a kettle bog may form but in alkaline conditions, it will be kettle peatland . Kettles are fluvioglacial landforms occurring as the result of blocks of ice calving from the front of a receding glacier and becoming partially to wholly buried by glacial outwash. Glacial outwash

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216-415: The ice and the adjacent valley side. These kame terraces tend to look like long, flat benches, with many pits on the surface made by kettles. They tend to slope downvalley with gradients similar to the glacier surface along which they formed, and can sometimes be found paired on opposite sides of a valley. Kames are sometimes compared to drumlins , but their formation is distinctively different. A drumlin

234-419: The melting of the glacier, streams carry sediment to glacial lakes , building kame deltas on top of the ice . However, with the continuous melting of the glacier, the kame delta eventually collapses onto the land surface, furthering the "kame and kettle" topography. Kame terraces are frequently found along the side of a glacial valley and are stratified deposits of meltwater streams flowing between

252-466: The middle of the lake. Due to the acidity buildup and lack of decay caused by the sphagnum moss, the bog is home to a number of carnivorous plants , including sundew and pitcher plants . Mendon Ponds is known locally as a birdwatching destination. Birds present in the wetland areas include wood duck , red-winged blackbird , blue heron , Canada goose , Virginia rail , sora , least and American bittern, and American coot . Passerine birds of

270-408: The north-central Cascade Mountains of the U.S. state of Washington is 200 hectares (490 acres). The depth of most kettles is less than ten meters. In most cases, kettle holes eventually fill with water, sediment, or vegetation. If the kettle is fed by surface or underground rivers or streams, it becomes a kettle lake . If the kettle receives its water from precipitation , the groundwater table, or

288-463: The park are typified by eastern bluebird , scarlet tanager , tyrant flycatchers , vireo , chickadees , and nuthatches . In winter, the park's chickadees take seed from patient visitors' hands. The park's Quaker Pond is home to a long-standing population of beavers . Muskrats , foxes , deer , and mink are also frequently observed within the park's borders. Wild Wings, a nonprofit organization that houses and cares for injured birds of prey ,

306-436: The result of floods caused by the sudden drainage of an ice-dammed lake. These floods, called jökulhlaups , often rapidly deposit large quantities of sediment onto the sandur surface. The kettle holes are formed by the melting blocks of sediment-rich ice that were transported and consequently buried by the jökulhlaups. It was found in field observations and laboratory simulations done by Maizels in 1992 that ramparts form around

324-452: The winter months, several trails are groomed for cross-country skiing. Kettle (landform) A kettle (also known as a kettle hole , kettlehole , or pothole ) is a depression or hole in an outwash plain formed by retreating glaciers or draining floodwaters . The kettles are formed as a result of blocks of dead ice left behind by retreating glaciers, which become surrounded by sediment deposited by meltwater streams as there

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