Maybe Terry can work some magic with this one.
All the painters who ever lived or are living could not make that come to life
Guy
Maybe Terry can work some magic with this one.
All the painters who ever lived or are living could not make that come to life
Guy
Maybe Terry can work some magic with this one.
I Christened it "Marble Spung" as it is almost perfectly round.
Bob,
Many spungs have remarkably circular traces. This form likely relates back to the conditions the basins formed under as sparse tundra-barrens blowouts – cold, dry, and windy. Cold, nonglacial (i.e., periglacial) terrain is often characterized by symmetrical geometric shapes known as “patterned ground.” We know of at least three periods during the last 200,000 years that frozen ground (i.e., permafrost) was present across South Jersey. That is why some round spungs are chained together like pearls on a necklace. A favorite round spung is Blue Bent Pond in Mizpah, secreted by an incredibly thick, extensive, and nearly leathal barrier of greenbriar (Smilax):
http://maps.njpinebarrens.com/#lat=39.49216882127215&lng=-74.80382680892944&z=15&type=nj1930&gpx=
Bent is an almost obsolete English word for the curved portion of a rounded form, like that found in ancient timber-frame structures (e.g., http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Beautiful_Hammer_Beam.jpg). The blue modifier referred to its eerie blue-green water-hue when water-filled, a coloring much like that seen at strong springs in the Pinelands known as “blue holes.” Alas, like so many other “darksome pools” (Beck, 1945, opposite page 21) of the Pines, Blue Bent Pond has all but dried up due to regional groundwater drop due to urbanization and well over-withdrawal. It’s almost certain that such an incredible place as marble spung once had another name, which is now long forgotten.
Spung
it would be great if you led a day long expedition to some of your favorites land features
Someday it would be great if you led a day long expedition to some of your favorites land features down your way Mark. Smilax be damned-we're tough!
Bob,
Even the USGS cartographer noticed the marble's remarkably round form:
http://maps.njpinebarrens.com/#lat=39.72352744723166&lng=-74.34452533721924&z=16&type=topo&gpx=
PS: for Turtle and Oji; I'm betting that Marble spung has a clayey bottom, which allows it to retain water longer than the surrounding country.
Bob, Are you saying there must be a layer of clay extending from the spung that allows water to flow from the spung under the area of the photo? This along with the abundant sunshine created by the burn made ideal conditions for R. kneiskernii?
Bob,
I suggest that the fading of Pinelands wetlands (e.g., spungs, cripples, blue holes, savannahs) is primarily caused by a diminution in the regional shallow groundwater. The further you stray from the Pinelands core area, the more pronounced the effect (i.e., its manmade).
The current issue of Pinelands Watch reported that the USGS has evidence of Pinelands spung-dying caused by man:
http://www.pinelandsalliance.org/protection/work/watch/
In my opinion, this effect is not just a Cape May County problem.
Spung-Man