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Geology of the South East II - Volcanoes! Traditional Geocache

This cache has been archived.

Serapis: One of my favourite caches, logged 100 times in ten years - ten hits a year. Two new in the pipeline for the same beach. Double the fun (and hopefully the finds).

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Hidden : 2/24/2008
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
3.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   small (small)

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Geocache Description:

Volcanoes!
Second in a series of (probably) five caches located at places in the South East that have a geological theme. This cache is located at a beach in Co Waterford where direct evidence of spectacular volcanoes can bee seen. Unfortunately they have not been active for about 450 million years.




Follow the R675 out of Tramore and signs will direct you to Kilfarresy Strand. There is a small but adequate car park in which you will find an informative display explaining the geology of the cliffs.

As you walk towards the cache all along your left side are visible formations of breccias cross cut here and there by rhyolite sheets and occasionally painted by gossan zones.

So what does all that mean? Well if you were beside these rocks, as they emerged 450 million years ago you would quickly be turned to ash and become some part of the layers you see before you. These ancient cliffs are remnants of volcanoes that erupted many thousands of miles away underwater somewhere near the South Pole no less! These rocks are indeed ancient, but form part of our planet's evolution and have ended up forming part of the Waterford coastline. All through the eruptions, various layers were deposited - magma, ash, super-heated steam, water and super-heated volcanic fluids which mixed up together to form the different layers and textures that are now visible along this shore.

The cache is positioned approx 15m above beach level on a grassy subsidence slope between two rocky outcrops. The waypoint below is nearby and is a good place to start your ascent. The cache is a 35mm film container so BYOP, please make sure the lid snaps back on properly.

Safety - Note 3 1/2 *** Terrain: The cache will not be available at +/- 1hr high tide time, so check your tide times here before you visit. But if you come and are not sure about tide status my advice is to seek it out, its only 15 mins along the beach and the tide is not fast. Use common sense. Although I gave this a three and a half star terrain it is not to difficult, you'll see when you get there. When replacing the cache please avoid letting it fall down into the hole.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Ybbx sbe n ehtol onyy fvmrq ebpx sebz Znef.

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)