Metasequoia - The Dawn Redwood - Fossilized Tree EarthCache
Hidden : 9/23/2008
Difficulty:
1 out of 5
Terrain:
1 out of 5

Size: Size: other (other)

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Geocache Description:


The Earth Cache is in the Rotary Picnic Park. The park is part of Wasksoo park development and offers picnicking and recreational facilities for local citizens and travelers. In the 1950’s the local Rotary Club took over an outdated auto park. They landscaped 2 hectares and added picnicking facilities and then turned it over to the City. Adjoining recreation areas were acquired through the generosity of Hugh and Norman Bower who donated land along Piper Creek, including Kin Kanyon.

This fossil tree stump of petrified wood was part of a living tree over 60 million years ago. The large pantodont (extinct placental mammal) grazed neat its base; lemurs played in its branches.

Metasequoias grew to more than 30 meters in height. They thrived in the cool temperatures of the northern hemisphere, each year losing their soft needle like leaves before winter arrived. When they died, many petrified, turning into the stone we find today.

Although long extinct here, these trees still grow wild in China and have been planted in the United States.

This stump was created during the Paleocene Epoch at Red Deer 60 to 70 million years ago. The Paleocene epoch immediately followed the mass extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous, known as the K-T boundary (Cretaceous - Tertiary), which marks the demise of the dinosaurs. The die-off of the dinosaurs left unfilled ecological niches worldwide. Much of Alberta’s flora and fauna were buried in sediment during the mass extinction.

This petrified wood stump is a type of fossil: it consists of fossil wood where all the organic materials have been replaced with minerals (most often a silicate, such as quartz), while retaining the original structure of the wood. The petrifaction process occurs underground, when wood becomes buried under sediment. Mineral-rich water flowing through the sediment deposits minerals in the plant's cells and as the plant's lignin and cellulose decay away, a stone mould forms in its place. The wood is preserved due to a lack of oxygen. The process was often so exact that replacement left a fossil that shows every detail of the logs, original surfaces and, occasionally, the internal cell structures.

Elements such as manganese, iron and copper in the water/mud during the petrification process give petrified wood a variety of color ranges. Pure quartz crystals are colorless, but when contaminants are added to the process the crystals take on a yellow, red or other tint.

In 1977 the Legislative Assembly recognized petrified wood as the official stone of Alberta. It is a semi-precious stone used in jewelry and ornaments. The choice of petrified wood is especially appropriate because of the stone’s natural beauty and because it belongs to the age when oil was first formed.




Questions:

1. Email (do not post) the cache owner the elevation at the posted coordinates.

2. Email (do not post) the cache owner the approximate size of the top of the fossil.

3. Post a photo of yourself with GPS in hand or if you are alone, a photo of your GPS at the EarthCache site. If you do not have a camera, email (do not post) the cache owner some interesting information from around the Earth Cache site.

Additional Hints (No hints available.)



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