Cottonwood Pond: Filling In (And, The "Goblin" Gets Ready for Halloween)

Filling In

(And, the “Goblin” Gets Ready for Halloween)

October 11, 2017

(Note: some photos are of the same views taken for the previous post. Go to “The Scree”, October 4, 2017, for comparison.)

I will start right out with big questions; What is this place? Where is it going?

I've pondered the first question in the early days of Cottonwood Pond in the post called “Pond(ering) ...” of July 23, 2013 – is it a pond? A pool? A puddle? I will ponder this further sometime this winter when things slow down and I can assess what the previous year, and four years, has done.

Much has changed during my four-year study of this place, and so the factors for considering what this place really is, and what it has become, have also changed since 2013.

The shape and depth of the “main pond” - that is the major thing. Over time, water and sediment have been shoved into the pond from run-off that has traveled through the Inlet (under the Barkless Log,) which has widened and deepened from a couple of small holes to a complete rectangular opening under the log. That sediment added to the fill of the pond floor, and the water sculpted the perimeter and bottom into new shapes and dimensions.

From the north - "little pond"

Water and sediment also poured under the Trunk and into “little pond” on the other side, again sculpting and depositing, sometimes flowing on via Temporary Creek #2 to meet with the Creek downstream.

The push of water opened up a Cove at the bottom of the Root Ball. Both water and frogs could pass through between the main and “little pond.”

Most significantly, soil kept falling from the Root Ball (Top and Bottom,) thinning its profile and exposing more Cottonwood roots. Through rain, freezing, thawing and, most recently, extensive drying, soil has been loosened and dropped. Animals have also loosened dirt as they dug burrows into the Root Ball soil.

New, dry Root Ball soil added to the Mud Pile below

Falling soil first created Mud Pile #1 below the Root Ball Bottom, to the northwest end. Eventually Mud Pile #2 was created at the southeast end. These supported new populations of plants.

Jewelweed plants, beyond blooming on October 11, pushed over by soil fallen from the Root Ball

Almost suddenly, there became only one whole Mud Pile stretching across the base of the Root Ball Bottom, growing higher and blocking the Cove, though not closing it (since the Root Ball Bottom is exposed to much more weather and change than the Root Ball Top, it has experienced more erosion, with a greater pile-up of soil below.)

The Mud Pile changed the dynamics of the main pond, giving it more of a crescent moon shape (it had started out as a distinct half moon.) The main pond may also have become more shallow.

Root Ball, Mud Pile and main pond bed on October 11

Lately, a great deal more soil had dropped from the Root Ball, not only onto the Mud Pile but also pouring down to the pond bottom (i.e.: The Scree.)

What will become of this spot? Will it become ever shallower, or will excess sediment be pushed out by heavy water flow, into the Seep, and also across the Isthmus?

End of the Seep (bottom) as it enters the Creek (spanned by Very Rotten Log)

The Isthmus, connecting the main pond with "little pond"

How will the shape of the bowl of soil (main pond) change? How long will it be before the Root Ball is devoid of soil and rain has washed the last bits from a scraggly skeleton of roots?

Root Ball Bottom, Mud Pile, Scree

Whole Root Ball - tree saplings on left side

When the soil is all gone from the Root Ball, what will become of the rapidly-growing tree saplings that have taken root in the Root Ball Top and the top edge? Or, are they effectively holding the soil in with their own roots, turning one Cottonwood tree into a group of diverse tree species?

Old Cottonwood roots have been decaying, and succumbing to the work of birds and other animals, or breaking and falling to the ground

Will the main and “little pond” ever again fill with enough water to support frogs and other aquatic wildlife I have found there over the years?

We have just gone through a near drought season, when almost everything became completely dry. Rains were simply absorbed by the thirsty soil and plants, with no chance of pooling or running. It will take a series of sustained, heavy rains, and maybe even a significant snow accumulation and melt, to know how the newly reshaped soil bowl will respond.

We finally had some good, steady, heavy rains on October 11 and previous, enough to break the near-drought period. Everything at Cottonwood Pond was soaked and glistening, though still not pooled or running.

The Creek bed near Cottonwood Pond, looking upstream

The slope facing Cottonwood Pond, and the bottom land below, with Creek bed

Wet woodland floor on the slope

The soggy soil of the Swampy Spot on October 11, after days of heavy rain

The new Scree, in the middle, was soaking wet on October 11 for the first time

Water had soaked into the hard clods of silty soil of the Scree, softening them and even allowing them to crack. Soon they should disintegrate and add much more sediment to the pond floor.

Scree clods beginning to meld into the pond bottom

And, more dry grains of soil had fallen after the rains.

Hard rains also had sent more leaves and sticks from the canopy to the floor, especially as autumn was starting to become more brittle. These would also disintegrate into the pond floor.