Paper+Trail-Stop+1

= =  Air Temperature: 34°F Soil Temperature: 41°F GPS Location: 34° 33.574'N, 84° 14.871'W
 * Stop #1 Lower Amphitheater ** 


**Color (H V/C):** (7.5yr 4/2)-Brown [|Click here for a satellite and topographic map of this GPS location and the surrounding area.] The first stop along your journey, to Georgia's tallest waterfall, is the Lower Amphitheater. Located to the southeast approximately 1.4 miles from the reflection pond and 2.4 miles from the top of the falls, just past the gift shop and picnic station, lies the platform structure dedicated to Ranger-led activities like group tours and Shakespearean inspired orations (GA DNR Webmaster, 2009). The surrounding, sloping terrain creates a bowl-shaped depression inhabiting an audience of vegetation and wildlife year round.
 * Texture:** Sandy Loam
 * Soil pH (and pH level):** 4.5 (very strongly acidic)

Moisture from the falls and runoff from sloped reliefs surrounding the amphitheater, allow for dense vegetation and minor outcropping of bedrock. Moisture and relief are primal processes in pedogenesis, soil formation. These processes allow for the formation of the humus-rich, semi-fertile sandy loam near the amphitheater. Humus in the soil provides the dark coloring.

The majority of rocks (as the ones pictured) we encountered were readily available due to hydro-erosion. As you can see from the picture, the **__bedrock__** near the amphitheater is predominantly **__sedimentary__** and **__igneous__** (Golley, 2004). The relief surrounding the area hastens the erosional processes of water. As the relief gradually slopes, soil, rocks, and other debris, transported by hydro-erosion, deposit, especially towards the base (amphitheater).

** Question: ** What fluvial process transports and deposits sediment, vegetation, soil and other debris downstream or down-slope?



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