RVET - "Rocky Basalt Sprinkle" EarthCache
RVET - "Rocky Basalt Sprinkle"
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(other)
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RVET (RockVille Earth Trail)
As an earthcache, there is no “box” or “container” to discover. The Rockville Regional park is located in
the City of Fairfield. There is a main entrance and free parking,but there is an Entrance fee of $3.00
dollars. This is a very popular hiking & biking park. There is also additional fee information at the pay station. The park is Dog friendly but will require an additional fee for your 4 legged friend.
Parking Coordinates = N38° 14.903 W122° 07.952
Logging Requirements:
Note the large bolders that are poking up around you, where the hillside slow erodes away, pick 3 three rocks and Estimate the size of these Volcanic monsters.
Noting the ecologial effect from the shallow soils, what are some of the trees, or bushes nearby?
Also Estimate the length of the largest one above you up off the trail? No need to leave the trail.
Please take a picture of yourself and the general Area.
Please do not post your answers in your logs. Please send your answers to the earthcache owner via geocaching.com with the title of the Earthcache and GC number. If you log the cache without sending the completed logging requirement, you will be contacted to do so, and if not sent within a reasonable amount of time 1-2 weeks, you logs will be subject to deletion.
Geology:
The Upper Pliocene Sonoma Volcanics (Osmont, 1905) occupy an area of about 50x65 kilometers north of San Francisco Bay in the wine country of Sonoma and Napa counties. The volcanic rocks consist of andesitic and rhyolitic flows (including obsidian), along with extensive tuffs and agglomerates. They are interbedded toward the west with the shallow marine Merced formation, and on the east with the continental Tehama formation. It is an area of extensive folding and faulting, and relationships are often obscure. Investigators have suggested that there were multiple sources, probably located where the Sonoma Volcanics are thickest, well to the east of the Pliocene marine embayment. With the identification of three classic examples of volcanic bombs east of Glen Ellen, CA, there is good evidence for the location of a late Pliocene volcano.
Local Information and History:
The unique rock formations that you see around the park are evidence of the volcanic activity which formed the Park. This activity has also shaped the Park’s ecosystem as it has dictated the types of
soils that make up the park and the plant life that thrive in those soils.
The Rockville park is underlain with volcanic material and most of the exposed bedrock you see consists
of the Pliocene Sonoma Volcanics which is made up of tuff, basalt and andesite. These volcanic rocks
overlie sandstone, tuffaceous sandstone, and volcanic conglomerate of the Pliocene age.
Rock formations which are close to the surface create shallow soils that support trees and shrubs that often look “stunted” or smaller than their fellow trees in deeper soils. Wildflowers abound but not for
long as the shallow soils dry out quickly.
sources:
www.Wikipedea.org
ga.water.usgs.gov
www.ci.fairfiled.ca.us
BERKLAND, James O.
Geology.about.com
Local Park Rangers Teri and Cheryl
Geocacher Pathfindermark
Permission Given by:
Ranger Teri Luchini and Ranger Cheryl Meyers
City of Fairfield
Public works
420 Gregory St
Farifield, Ca 94533
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)