Geology of Middlesex County

 
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FAIRYLAND POND, CONCORD MA

Fairyland Pond is located on the trails across the street from Concord-Carlisle High School. The first thing we noticed was how beautiful the area was. The next thing we noticed was how there were many hills around the pond. Some of them were quite steep, as Maddie quickly discovered when she climbed up one. We also noticed that there were no rocks or boulders anywhere, and that the pond is in a slight depression.

 

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    As you can see, there is some very interesting topography around Fairyland Pond. Fairyland Pond is a kettle lake, because it is in a depression and is surrounded by kames.

    The kettle lake was formed when a large chunk of ice broke off from a glacier and sunk into the ground. It melted which caused a lake to fill in the depression it had created. Kettle lakes are often surrounded by kames the way Fairyland Pond is.


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It's almost impossible to see, but thats Maddie, way up high on the kame. This shows just how high and how steep kames can be, to which Maddie can attest. The pond was surrounded by steep kames such as this one.

Walden Pond

Not many people may have realized it, but Walden Pond in Concord is also a kettle lake, though on a much larger scale than Fairyland Pond. In fact, the shape of the bed of Walden Pond still resembles the shape of the chunk of ice it was made from.

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Till on the Kame
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Snapping Turtle!