The Stone Cuts lie along
the Stone cuts trail of Monte Sano State Park. Expect a two
mile hike with more that 200' of elevation change, along well
marked trails. Trail maps are available at the park office and
at www.briartech.com.
Waypoints are provided with this cache listing to help you
find the Stone Cuts easily. There are many other sights
to enjoy enroute, and you might want to consider other stops
along the way.
The Stone
Cuts are a part of the hill's capstone which has become exposed.
Years of erosion have caused the limestone to split in two. The
result is a fascinating rock formation. At one point the trail
leads through a natural tunnel the heart of this feature, and there
are some tight squeezes throughout. A series of steps lead out of
the cuts and back to the trail.
The geology of the
mountain is relatively simple. Monte Sano is an isolated
fragment of the Cumberland Plateau. The valley below lies at
about 600 feet above sea level while the mountain rises above
1600 feet, for a height of 1000 feet above the valley. The
bulk of the mountain is flat bedded limestone of Mississippian
age (about 300 million years old.) There is a very thin layer
of coal between this and the Sandstone cap rock of
Pennsylvanian age. This Sandstone forms our bluffs that ring
the mountain. These cliffs often average about 20 to 30 feet
high, and in isolated spots reach more than 70
feet.
The karst topography or landscape of
the area is filled with features such as this. Karst
topography is a three-dimensional landscape shaped by the
dissolution of a soluble layer or layers of bedrock, usually
carbonate rock such as limestone or dolomite. These landscapes
display distinctive surface features and underground drainages, and
in some examples there may be little or no surface drainage. Monte
Sano is not exception. The area is populated with cuts, caves with
underground streams, and sinks. If you are observant on your hike
you may even notice small surface karst features on and around the
Stone Cuts.
Karst landforms are generally the
result of mildly acidic water acting on soluble bedrock such as
limestone or dolostone. The carbonic acid that causes these
features is formed as rain passes through the atmosphere picking up
CO2, which dissolves in the water. Once the rain reaches the
ground, it may pass through soil that may provide further CO2 to
form a weak carbonic acid solution: H2O + CO2 ? H2CO3. Recent
studies of sulfates in karst waters suggests sulfuric and
hydrosulfuric acids may also play an important role in karst
formation.
This mildly acidic water begins to
dissolve the surface and any fractures or bedding planes in the
limestone bedrock. Over time these fractures enlarge as the bedrock
continues to dissolve. Openings in the rock increase in size, and
an underground drainage system begins to develop, allowing more
water to pass through and accelerating the formation of underground
karst features.
Somewhat less common than this
limestone karst is gypsum karst, where the solubility of the
mineral gypsum provides many similar structures to the dissolution
and redeposition of calcium carbonate.
For more information on karst features
check out:
1. (visit link)
2. (visit link)
3. (visit link)
4. (visit link)
REQUIREMENTS FOR LOGGING THIS CACHE
| TASK |
DESCRIPTION |
| Provide Proof of Your
Visit |
1. You must post a picture to your log on this
cache page which shows you holding your GPSr somewhere inside the
Stone Cuts. It should be obvious that you are in the cuts
from the picture. |
| 2. Provide a
waypoint for where you are standing as a part of the image
log. |
| Observe the Nature of Karst Topography
at the Stone Cuts |
1. Locate some
portion of the stone cuts that is actively under some sort of
natural change. |
| 2. Photograph this
portion of the cuts and upload one or more photos of this change to
your log for this cache. |
| 3. Post the
coordinate for this area as a part of the picture upload
log. |
| 4. Based on what
you know and can learn about local karst features, explain
how you expect that portion of the Stone Cuts to change over
the next 10, 100, and 1000 years. This explanation
should appear in the description of one of these
photos. |
| Observe the Nature of Karst Topography in
the Area |
1. Locate two karst
features along the trail. There are plenty, so if you do a
little homework in advance this should not be a problem. Both
features must lie on Monte Sano. |
| 2. Photograph both
of the features and upload them to attach them to your find
log. |
| 3. Capture a
waypoint at each of these features, and post them as part of the
picture upload. |
| 4.
In the
photo log, provide your explanation for how that karst
feature was formed. |
NOTES
- Failure to meet each of the logging
requirements will result in your log being deleted.
Incomplete logs may be posted as notes and converted to a find upon
completion of the requirements.
- Logs using photos or text from others
will be deleted, except for group photos which may be used for the
first one as a proof of visit. Each cacher should attempt to
provide their own find, even in the context of a group. There
are plenty of features to go around for a VERY long
time.
- This is not a typical
Earthcache/Virtual cache in that there is absolutely no need to
email the cache listing owner with the answers to any
questions. All pertinent information should appear in each
finders log. Each log should be essentially
unique.