Dear bloggers!
Ilingas Gorge
Today we went to Ilingas Gorge to look at the disastrous effects of the December 2000 flood. We started off the day filled with anticipation of the events ahead, given the coordinates of longitude N of 35.21 and latitude W 24.12 to enter to our GPS and set off by foot on a trek of 30 minutes to the beautiful scenery of the exit gully of the gorge.
After our wait for the geographically challenged group, we set our way up the long and strenuous gorge of which we reached a very high altitude of 210m, with the great annoyance of many flies. After a well deserved lunch we set off on our days investigation, to determine the peak discharge of the 2000 flood within the gorge and to look at the effects that the flood had on the natural landscape.We went to 9 sites and on occasion measured the wetted perimeter of the gorge and also the cross sectional area, this was to eventually help us to measure the peak discharge of the gorge. We also looked at the topography using a clinometer to measure the gradient, aswell as taking note of particle size, lichen, vegetation type and erosional features (See Figure 1)
Figure 1
On our way down we saw many features, and also many goats, some of which were decomposing on the gorge floor. At the top of the gorge we noticed there was difficulty in finding the wetted perimeter due to further erosion caused by the 2000 floods and other floods since then. Further down the gorge we noticed not only the increased heat and flies, but also the abraded surface and impact craters. In the middle section of the gorge we noticed a narrowing and then widening of the gorge area, we believed this could be due to rock type. At the bottom, we noticed a meandering of the gorge walls, we thought this could be due to the flood’s energy being dissipated.
As a result of the flood in 2000, a man made barrier was created to help alleviate the problems if a new flood was to occur, due to this we took measurements so that we could compare the peak discharge of the December 2000 floods and the maximum discharge of the man made barrier.
Problems:
Lack of toilet facilities, irritating flies and wasps, unbearable heat, water shortages, and problems with the GPS receiver (poor signal).
