Coatsgate Quarry Traditional Cache
Lorgadh: As the owner has not responded to my previous log requesting that they check this cache, I'm archiving it.
Karen
Lorgadh
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Outside the quarry area a nice secluded bridge over the motorway
The Southern Uplands include Dumfries & Galloway and the Borders regions. It is defined geologically as the area south of the Southern Uplands Fault. The fault spans the south-west coast near Ballantrae to the east coast near Dunbar, east of Edinburgh.
Palaeozoic rocks, mainly Ordovician and Silurian sediments predominate, though there are small areas of Carboniferous and Permian strata. Common rock types include shales and greywackes.
The area contains a few small mines and ore trial sites, either exploiting or searching for barite, hematite and copper/ lead mineralization and is similar in this fashion to the central belt of Scotland. Additionally, some less common species can also be found in the area.
The world-famous Leadhills and Wanlockhead deposit, located roughly in the northern central part of the region, is the exception which dominates the mineral scene.
Minerals
Mineralization may occur around the small number of granitic intrusions of the area. These are of Silurian-Devonian age and form part of the "newer granite" suite, found more typically in the Scottish Highlands.
The Criffel granite complex, to the south-west of Dumfries, is the main intrusive body of the area.
At Glendinning, in the county of Dumfries, there is an antimony deposit where stibnite is associated with the much rarer species, semseyite. Here, at the Louisa Mine, other minerals recorded include zinkenite, bournonite and jamesonite.
Secondary species include valentinite, cervantite and stibiconite... More common however is galena and sphalerite.
A small deposit of nickeline disseminated in host rock can be found at Talnotry in Kirkcudbrightshire.
The Criffel area has yielded specimens of romanecheite, amethyst and smoky quartz as hand specimens in recent years. Small crystals of titanite and monazite have also been found.
Nevertheless, mineralization in the area, excluding the Leadhills-Wanlockhead area, is on a small scale. Small hand or micromount specimens are the more typical results of collecting.
Nonetheless, there are exceptions and investigation may pay dividends.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
ng gur raq bs gur oneevre haqre ebpxf