As part of the Burritt Museum Park, this nature trail is located high above the city of Huntsville on Monte Sano Mountain.  Through this walk, one can appreciate the close intertwining of the lives of people and nature.  The trail has numerous descriptions of natural phenomenon regarding the geology of the area and historical and cultural accounts on the uses of plants, trees and herbs.   Along with providing elaborations on these facts, there will be a review of the geology of karst features and some of the speleological processes that are going on here.

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All photos by CDaniels unless noted otherwise
 

TEACHER ACTIVITIES

• There will be some fossils embedded on the rocks to observe.  The teachers will try to identify them.  Brachiopods, crinoids, and mollusks should be encountered.

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• The teachers will observe and note the different rock features and attempt to determine the geological processes that resulted in the shape and characteristics of the formations.

16 "Limestone Floaters"

• Weathering and erosion caused blocks or columns of rocks to break off from the bluffs.  Remnants of eroded limestone, sandstone and shale from the mountain tops form the clay topsoil that covers most of Madison County.

• Each layer of limestone represents a period of deposition and regression of the seas that deposited the sediment that lithified to form these rocks.

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• Some interesting bluff formations include this rock overhang where some of the layers below have broken off and eroded from the main body of the formation.

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• In many formations, the strata orientation is fairly horizontal but in some the exposed rock is inclined forty-five degrees or more.  Plate tectonics is evidenced here as the collision of plates caused rock layers to buck and uplift and become slanted as illustrated below.

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• Due to the limestone's permeability and susceptibility to acid dissolution, the area forms a karst topography.  Caverns and sinkholes are going to be encountered.

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• These caves are dissolution caves formed by removal of bedrock of groundwater or underground streams.  The water transports the bulk of the rock material as eroded sediment or in solution out of the cave.  In this case the rock material is limestone.
• The decaying vegetation forms tannic acid which increase the erosion of limestone.  Shale beds that lie beneath limestones are aquicludes, not penetrated by water so the water flows along seams between the rock layers until it comes out at the surface as springs.

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• These caves harbor bats, salamanders, crayfish, snakes and insects.  Some of the caves were used by Indians and artifacts were discovered in these sites.  Some are as deep as only a few feet but others have rooms over twenty feet high.  We will be visiting three other sites where cave geology and speleology will be covered in more detail.

• These ripple marks on these rocks were formed by the action of moving water which probably dissolved then redeposited the calcium carbonate and eventually lithified.

• For the rest of the walk, we will encounter some representative flora and discover how they were important to wildlife and historically how they were used by the Indians.

2)  Black walnut, Juglans nigra:  secretes a toxin called "Juglone" which prevents other plants from growing near it.  This is an adaptation for competition for sun, water and soil nutrients.  Indians extracted the toxin from roots and nut husks then scattered them into streams to paralize fish for easy gathering.  The nut husks are boiled and used to dye fabrics and baskets.  The walnut is eaten by wildlife as well as humans.

3)  Shagbark Hickory, Carya ovata:  The original Indian name is "powcohicora" refers to the soup made from the nut which is pounded then boiled.  Oil is skimmed off the top of the soup and used as butter for corn bread and hominy.  Its inner bark is used to make yellow dye.

There are many more that will be encountered on this trip.

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