Falcon Creek Erratic Earthcache EarthCache
Falcon Creek Erratic Earthcache
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Earthcaches do NOT have an actual cache container so YOU NEED TO SEND THE ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS in order to be able to log the cache! This cache is located in the Whiteshell Provincial Park along the Falcon Creek Trail. You may want to pick up the self-guiding trail map in order to learn more as you walk along toward the erratic rock and further along the trail.
If you look around as you approach the erratic rock, you will see evidence of a volcano - bedrock rock (dark green rock called basalt). It was made from cooled lava and ash from a volcano under an ocean, taking place 2.5 billion years ago.
The gigantic rock at the posted coordinates (stop #3) is an ERRATIC. An erratic is a glacier or ice moved rock. We know that this rock has moved here because it is not made of basalt. Something very powerful moved this rock from a few km. north, where there are more of these granite rocks. If it had come much further, it would be more rounded, less lumpy.
Massive glaciers, several kilometres thick have been scouring the Earth since the Precambrian Era. During each ice age (at least 20 ice ages), glaciers have scraped and scratched and polished these rocks.
The last great glacier covered this area for more than fifty thousand years. It took five thousand years just to melt. That glacier left behind this massive piece of rock ten thousand years ago.
Along the trail you will also see fault lines, polish, striations and chattermarks which are all evidence of movement deep underground or caused by the glacier dragging rocks over the surface.
These rocks have not only been undergoing big earth shattering events but some are also being worn down by lichen that produce acids. Some lichens are a thousand years old. You may spot the various lichens along the way - crust, leaf, club, or shrub. Take note of the differences between them.
At the #6 stop you will see a fracture in the rock where you will encounter smoky-white quartz. Often gold may be found where there is a quartz vein.
The rocks of the Whiteshell have been on a fantastic journey through time. They have been shaped, changed and remade by some of the Earth's most dramatic natural processes. Not all events are spectacular like volcanoes and glaciers. Some like lichens are slow and constant. Many of them are going on today-the North American plate is moving closer to Asia every year. The rocks on the trail are slowly eroding and washing down to low spots, forming soil that provides nutrients for plants which in turn becomes food for animals. Bits of the rocks are washing down into this creek and out into Falcon Lake.
The rocks of the Whiteshell are some of the first rocks to form on Earth. They are treasures that show us the immensity of time and the constancy of change.
Send answers to these questions for cache approval to cache owner (do NOT post in log). LOGS WILL BE DELETED IF ANSWERS AREN'T SENT!
1. What is this erratic composed of? What colour is it?
2. What evidence do you see of a volcano? How many years ago did this take place?
3. Tell us at which stop (they are clearly marked) there are more erratics.
4. Measure this erratic and tell us how big it is in height and circumference (around).
5. Measure the length and width of the smoky white quartz at stop #6, either in feet or metres.
CONGRATS TO KAT BALLOU ON BEING FTF!!!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
[COLLECT and send the answers to owner - measurements can be approximated!]
Treasures
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