Upper West Creek

Northeast Ohio Sierra Club Watershed Stewardship Center at West Creek

Sunday, June 1, 20142-5 pm

Looking south to Upper West Creek on the Parma Highland

Headwaters walking tourJoin us to comprehend the Glacial Legacy

© 2014 Bluestone Heights

Watershed Stewardship Center at West Creek

present

USGS LiDAR; Google Earth aerial viewer

RSVP info in last slide

RSVP info in last slidewalking tour path

West Creek is a success story in urban stream revitalization.

In 1997, local residents formed one of the region’s first watershed advocacy groups.

During the 2000s, the West Creek Conservancy helped establish the 326-acre Metroparks reservation and helped implement significant stream recovery projects.

Opened in 2013, the Metroparks Watershed Stewardship Center is the

current West Creek milestone.

Many Clevelanders therefore know West Creek as an urban stream sustained with forward-thinking conservation practices.

© 2014 Bluestone HeightsWest Creek Conservancy

West Creek Conservancy

The glacial headwaters walking tour is the chance to extend our knowledge back to the stream’s formative period, 23,000 to 14,000 years ago.

The Headwaters Tour brings in the expertise of

Roy Larick (Bluestone Heights)

Jessica Ferrato (Sierra Club)

Jenn Greiser (Watershed Stewardship Center)

Combining resources, the three unveil a West Creek landscape in long and short term change.

J.H. Burns CWRU

Upper West Creek

Lower West Creek

Parma Highland

Upper West Creek is well placed for viewing the effects of the late Ice Age. The stream drains the front of the Parma highland, a bedrock massif lying between the Cuyahoga and Rocky River valleys.

Berea Sandstone terraceSo

uth

Henninger house

Froelich housewalking

tour path

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© 2014 Bluestone Heights

Upper West Creek

Lower West Creek

Parma Highland

Berea Sandstone

terraceB

erea Sandstone terrace

The highland is capped by Sharpsville Sandstone and siltstone of the Meadville Shale (red areas). West Creek headwaters arise in and among these rocks. Below, the Berea Sandstone forms a broader terrace.

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Berea Sandstone

Cuyahoga group

Cleveland Shale

Sharpsville Sandstone ~1190’ asl

Chagrin Shale

Appalachian Highlands

Central LowlandsPortage Escarpment

Lake Erie Basin

Cuyahoga R.

De Kalbclay

600’ asl

WPleasant

ValleyRd

Vertical scale exaggerated

Parma Highland geo-section

moraine

floodplain

Upper West Creek

Lower West Creek

R’sideat

B’view

SchaafRd

Headwater Tour

The highland is capped by the Sharpsville Sandstone.West Creek headwaters arise above the Sharpsville.

A B© 2014 Bluestone Heights

The highland was one of the last Greater Cleveland areas to be covered by Erie ice and one of the first to see it leave. Glacial effects are well preserved.

Upper West Creek

Lower West Creek

© 2014 Bluestone Heights

Parma Highland

Berea Sandstone

terraceB

erea Sandstone terrace

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By 23,000 years ago, glacial ice was advancing up the Cuyahoga and Rocky River Valleys.

© 2014 Bluestone Heights

Parma Highland

Berea Sandstone

terraceB

erea Sandstone terrace

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Soon after, ice pushed soft rubble up a small pre-glacial West Creek valley.

By 22,000 years ago, the highland was completely covered in ice. © 2014 Bluestone Heights

Parma Highland

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About 15,000 years ago, with ice retreat, small streams began removing the rubble.

The upper creek is now a gathering of deep headwater ravines.

© 2014 Bluestone Heights

Defiance Moraine

Defiance Moraine

Sharon Sandstone terrace

Nor

thBerea Sandstone terrace

The headwaters walking tour draws a framework for understanding the advance and retreat of the last glacier and the emergence of West Creek.

Departing from the Watershed Stewardship Center, the walk proceeds upstream on the trunk channel, and then heads up one of the source ravines …

West Creek walking tour area

© 2014 Bluestone HeightsUpper West Creek

Parma Highland

Defiance Moraine

USGS LiDAR underlayGoogle Earth aerial viewer

Storm sewer waterfall, Sharpsville

Down through the Sharpsville

geocaching.com

Sandstone rubble in headwater

Manmade ravine, Orangeville Shale

Meadville/Sharpsville sandstone terrace

Defiance M

oraineN

orth

Berea Sandstone terrace

Defiance M

oraine

Sandstone rubble in point bar

R. Larick

R. Larick

R. Larick

R. Larick

J.H. Burns CWRU

landfilled floodplain

WSSC

natu

ral floo

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lain

Natural channel, Orangeville Shale

The walking tour route leaves the trunk channel and floodplain to mount a source ravine on the east side.

Sandstone rubble from the uppermost Sharpsville rock sequence lies in the stream bed.

At the top of the rock sequence, surface runoff breaks through resistant Sharpsville Sandstone to dig deep into the underlying shale.

The eroded rubble, a mixture of sandstone and shale plaquettes, then begins its descent to the trunk stream.

geocaching.com

Looking down from the knick point, the erosion debris chokes the source ravine on its way downslope.

geocaching.com

Approaching the floodplain, tree roots and fallen branches inhibit the flow of the load, turning it into a debris field.

geocaching.com

On the floodplain, the trunk incorporates the debris into a point bar of cobbles and gravel.

geocaching.com

In the trunk channel, large shale slabs (gray) and glacial erratic boulders (red) become part of the gravel bars.

At West Creek, in the early and middle 1800s, early settlers quarried Berea and Sharon sandstones for infrastructure and foundations.

Occasionally, an entire stone house was built.

© 2014 Bluestone Heights

Defiance Moraine

Defiance Moraine

Sharon Sandstone terrace

Nor

thBerea Sandstone terrace

John Froelich house, 7095 Broadview Rd. Built c. 1855 of Sharon Sandstone.

Phillip Henninger house, 5757 Broadview Rd. Built 1849 of Berea Sandstone.

Before Metroparks, part of the upper West Creek floodplain was used as a landfill. To maximize the area, a new stream channel was cut through the shale on the west side of the valley.

West Creek Conservancy

geocaching.com

With Metroparks upper West Creek land-use has been refocused toward storm-water management.

To ensure that West Creek retains its formative legacy

Upper West Creek

Sunday, June 1, 20142-5 pm

Headwaters walking tourJoin us to comprehend the Glacial Legacy

Watershed Stewardship Center at West Creek

2277 West Ridgewood Drive, Parma, OH 44134

Mandatory RSVP440-887-1968

or online at

http://www.clevelandmetroparks.com/Main/EventsProgramsCalendar/West-Creek-Walking-Tour-3521.aspx