 Pit of Wonders
A cache by GeoedYOUcation Hidden: 9/5/2008
Size:  (Regular) Difficulty:  Terrain:  (1 is easiest, 5 is hardest)
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Our "typical" geocache container - 12" by 3" hidden in one of the
only places it could hide near the brink of an unimposing-looking
gravel pit.
This low-profile gravel pit may seem uninspiring to the untrained
eye but take a closer look at the ground around the pit area.
Embedded in the gravels of the pit are pebbles of "Nevada
wonderstone" that were tumbled and polished by streams and by wave
action along the shore of a lake that was last filled to this level
between about 11,000 and 13,000 years ago. The common rockhound
name Wonderstone refers to a colorfully banded rock - usually in
shades of tan, red, orange and brown. This rock started out as a
volcanic rhyolitic air-fall tuff, formed from a deposit of ash
ejected from a volcano about 12 million years ago. The rock was
altered by hot groundwater that deposited pyrite (FeS2 ) and quartz
(SiO2 ). Rainwater penetrated the rock and oxidized pyrite within
the rock to form "liesegang bands" of red hematite (Fe2 O3 ) and
orange and brown goethite (FeO(OH)). Erosion broke pieces of the
rock from its outcrop higher in the hills, and streams carried the
pebbles to the shore of ancient Lake Lahontan where currents and
wave action tumbled and polished the pebbles to their current
condition.
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Current Time: 2/10/2010 4:25:01 AM (GMT-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada) (12:25 PM GMT)
Last Updated: 2/1/2010 6:38:39 AM (GMT-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada) (2:38 PM GMT)
Rendered: From Database
Coordinates are in the WGS84 datum
