PLEASE NOTE: Your answers must be submitted AND approved by me before you may claim a find. If you claim a find before your answers have been approved, your log WILL BE DELETED. You may rest assured that all answers falling within reasonable tolerances will be approved promptly. If there is an issue with any point, I will be happy to tutor in geology.
Pull off at this roadside attraction and be prepared to be awed. Here, some 20,000 to 110,000 years ago, a volcano erupted nine miles away and flooded the area with lava. Some unknown obstruction prevented the flow from continuing on down the valley and caused the lava to pool at this point, where it formed massive crystalline structures on the more rapidly cooling periphery. The more rapidly the cooling occurred, the more uniform surface texture the columns attained.
Commonly called basalt, these dense, dark grey columnar structures are composed of dacite, a plagioclase (feldspar) which also contains quartz, hornblende and biotite. The greenish patches you see are lichens, which contribute to the ultimate erosion of the formation by virtue of their hair-like root structure which penetrates even the smallest fracture although ultimately, water and freezing temperatures are the Palisades' worst enemy. In fact, it is these two foes which were principle in exposing the formation you see today.
You will visit two waypoints approximately 75' apart in order to determine the answers to qualify your log for this cache. Email your CORRECT answers to the cache owner, and please DO NOT post spoiler pictures to your log.
1) At Waypoint #1 (46° 41.027 121° 32.954), look as far west along the formation as you can see. Describe the surface texture of the rock compared with the main formation, and determine whether the columns as seen from Waypoint #1 or Waypoint #2 cooled more rapidly.
2) At Waypoint #2 (46° 41.031 121° 32.968), look directly across to a significant collapse feature halfway down the formation. Describe it, and theorize what you think may have caused it.
3) For bonus points (not necessary for logging the cache), describe how Spiral Butte and Goose Egg Mountain were formed.