Last year one of the students at SJC told me that I needed to get some pictures of the icicles at
Babcock quarry. I did not get there before a spell of warm weather melted many of them. So as the cold spell was coming to an end last week, I decided I should see what was there. (Click on the pictures for a larger view.)
The icicles form wherever there is water seeping through the cracks in the limestone. Near the bottom on the south side there was a big patch of ice, so there must be considerable water seepage there.
My student source told me that what we have this year was not as extensive as the ice was last year.
It does not look like the quarry has been pulling much stone out lately. Maybe they only do that when the weather is better. Or maybe they have enough in the piles north of the quarry.
Viewing these pictures makes me sad that we are wasting our groundwater by pumping it directly into the river. How many wells is Rensselaer operating on at the moment?
ReplyDeleteI understand that a VERY expensive system is needed to treat groundwater once it is exposed, but come on, when we have no clean water left, how expensive will that be?
These pics are beautiful. You might revisit these as the weather changes.
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