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GCQ5FZ

Earthcache Neenach Formation - Other Half of Pinnacles
A  cache by TerryDad2       Hidden: 8/15/2005  
Size: Size: Not chosen (Not chosen)      Difficulty: 3 out of 5      Terrain: 1 out of 5 (1 is easiest, 5 is hardest)

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N/S ? ??.??? W/E ??? ??.???  []
In California, United States

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This is a stop along a county highway where you can see outcrops of the Neenach Formation (the other half of the Pinnacles NM) near the top of the hill to the east. Don't expect too much; there's a reason this part didn't become a national park.

Outcrops of the Neenach Formation are located on private land. This Earthcache is to give perspective to the Pinnacles Eartchcaches (GCPRKJ and GCPRKP) about 195 miles to the north. There is safe ample parking by the mailboxes on the west side of the road.

Near the top of the hill to the east of this stop are a few outcrops of the Neenach Formation. It is a dark reddish to purplish brown andesite. Unfortunately, because all the outcrops in the area are on private land you can't get a close look at them.

From a distance, the weathering and geomorphology of these outcrops looks similar to the pinnacles of the Pinnacles National Monument, only much smaller.

The formation of these rocks begins about 60 million years ago. At that time, an oceanic plate (a piece of the crust of the earth) called the Farallon Plate and the continental North American Plate were moving toward each other. Instead of crunching together like two cars, the Farallon Plate was directed down into the earth while the North American Plate stayed on top. This plate movement of an oceanic plate diving down under a continental plate is called subduction.

During the subduction, portions of the Farallon Plate were scraped off the top and pushed up against the edge of the North American Plate forming much of the north-south coastal mountains. As the Farallon Plate went deeper in to the earth, it began to melt under the North American Plate. The melting Farallon Plate formed large amounts of magma (melted rock) that moved up through weak areas along the edge of the North American Plate forming volcanoes.

It is estimated that the volcano that formed became active about 22 to 23 million years ago, the Miocene. While it was active, it formed an estimated 8,000 foot high mountain, 15 miles long and 5 miles wide. David Warburton of Florida Atlantic University puts that as a little smaller than Mt. St. Helens.

At some point, the North American Plate migrated over the spreading center that was the boundary between the Farallon and Pacific Plate. The spreading center is a plate margin where the plates are constantly moving away from each other and magma is continually filling in the space between them. Once that happened, the Farallon Plate no longer existed, and the volcano became extinct.

Instead of moving toward each other, the Pacific Plate was moving northwest relative to the North American Plate. This changed the plate boundary to the transform fault we are familiar with today. As it happened, the volcano ended up straddling the fault line that formed between the plates.

It is estimated that the Pacific Plate has moved approximately 1.5 inches per year resulting in the portion of the volcano on the Pacific Plate moving 195 miles northwest to become the Pinnacles National Monument relative to the rest of the volcano that is on the North American Plate, where you are now.

An additional location to see outcrops of the Neenach is at N34 46.639 W 118 40.409. The outcrop is up the hill to the south way across the field on private land. I would suggest binoculars for this one.

Logging requirements:
Send me a note with :

  1. The text "GCQ5FZ Neenach Formation - Other Half of Pinnacles" on the first line
  2. The number of people in your group.
  3. where you see outcrops of rock similar to the one a the coordinates.
  4. Why the outcrops tend to be at the elevation they are and why you think the Neenach formation doesn't look like the Pinnacles.

The above information was compiled from NPS documentation and the following sources:

  • National Geologic Map Database, USGS, Summary of Citation: Neenach Publication: Dibblee, T.W., Jr., 1967, Areal geology of the western Mojave Desert, California: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, 522, 153 p., (incl. geologic map, scale 1:125,000) (http://ngmdb.usgs.gov/Geolex/Refsmry/sumry_11424.html)
  • Geology of National Parks, GLY 3164, © 2004 by David L. Warburton (http://www.geology.fau.edu/Resources/CourseWebPages/Fall2004/GLY3164/NPPINNNM.htm)
  • San Francisco Bay Area Network I & M Program Monitoring Report: Phase I October 2002 version 8/15/2005 Jennifer Bjork http://www2.nature.nps.gov/geology/parks/pinn/#geology
  • Stanley, Richard G., et. Al. , 2000, Locaitons and Ages of Middle Tertiary Volcanic Centers in Coastal California, Open-File Report 00-154, USGS http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/LivingWith/VolcanicPast/Places/volcanic_past_california.html

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Additional Hints ( Decrypt ) 

Decryption Key
A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z
(letter above equals below,
and vice versa)

Ernq gur Cvaanpyrf qrfpevcgvba. Fraq n abgr JRNGURE be abg lbh ner fher bs gur nafjre. (Decrypted Hints)




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Neenach.jpg

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 Attributes
no drinking water no public restrooms not recommended at night not 24-7 no telephone takes less than 1  hour parking available blank blank blank blank blank
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Logged Visits ( 63 total. Visit the Gallery (45 images) )

Found it61Post Reviewer Note1Publish Listing1

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Cache find counts are based on the last time the page generated.


Cache Logs
 November 16 by flaglady (5630 found)
Hitting the high desert with BoydChicks and having our best caching day EVER!!.... 8.5 hours of caching
104 finds, 0-zero DNF's and NO people just a bunch of dirt and caches

This was a nice break in our day we snapped a few pictures and just enjoyed the peace and
quiet of this road....e-mail sent.

thanks TerryDad2 for adding to our day

[view this log]

 October 11 by mshock (1187 found)
(email on the way) Never done one of these before. Out with BenH57 & Shell1fish (who had done the other half). Really nice break in the day & made you think. TFTC!

[view this log]
 October 11 by shell1fish (2114 found)
benh57 pointed out the Neenach Formation to mshock and I during our 108 caching day in the area. I visited Pinnacles NM last summer, so it was great to get another perspective on their volcanic origins closer to home. It must have been some interesting research to initially figure out the 200 mile connection. Thanks, TerryDad2, for highlighting this textbook example of fault movement and providing all the geologic background. Email sent.

[view this log]
shell1fish at the Neenach Formation

 October 2 by majorjarhead (2000 found)
Working the climbing tower at Camp Three Falls this w/e so I left early to bag a few along the 138. Not a lot of "hiding" went into some of the caches but I recognize this series was more for education and numbers. Got about half of them. Part way through I realized I wasn't keeping the number clues. And the best recent log entry I thought was " the only people out her are cachers and speed deamons that aren't really muggles". Great series. Have to work on the "NO" series so I'll be back for the rest of them.
Answers in the mail.

[view this log]
 August 22 by The Bolas Heathens (8000 found)
Out on a quest to find 100 caches in a day (a long time caching ambition for us). We found 110 caches in the day and had a great time exploring an area we've not been to before.

A very interesting spot for an Earthcache and something we'd have missed if we did not have the Earthcache here.

We've emailed in our answers and will post a photo of us with GPS at GZ to prove we were there.

TFTC!
The Bolas Heathens



[view this log]

Isaac with GPSr at GZ


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Current time: 11/22/2009 9:48:14 AM
Last Updated: 11/21/2009 5:06:37 PM
Rendered: From Database
Coordinates are in the WGS84 datum

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