Twins - separated at birth EarthCache
Twins - separated at birth
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Montara Mountain is made up of silinian granite. What is most interesting is that this granite is found almost nowhere else in the bay area. The story why is quite interesting.
This can be accessed via McNee Ranch property (state park), or can be accessed through San Pedro Valley Park (San Mateo County Park).
This cache takes you the north peak of Montara Mountain. The hike is challenging, but the rewarding views make it all worth while. On the trail headingto the peak (and at the peak itself) you will note a unique feature called salinian granite. Geologically, the Montara Mountain story is an interesting one, and adds much to the mystique of the place. Montara Mountain owes its steep slopes and relatively high elevation to the light, weathered granite which makes up the mountain's bulk and can be seen in numerous rock outcrops.
Please stay on all trails. No bushwhacking or trailblazing shortcuts.
The granite was put into position in Cretaceous times (roughly 100 million years ago), at the southern end of the Sierra Nevada...roughly 300 miles from its current position! That's right....Montara Mountain used rest 300 miles south. How did it get here and who moved it? The explanation for this puzzling offset is a textbook example of the dynamics of plate tectonics: around 15 million years ago, in Miocene times, a transverse (strike/slip) fault system, now known in blanket terms as the San Andreas Fault, was activated. The original block of granite (called the "Salinian Block") was bisected by this new fault, with the western half (now Montara Mountain) riding with the Pacific Plate 300 miles to the north. The other half of the Salinian Block remains near Bakersfield, California. Once north, the San Gregorio falut further cut the Salnian Block - bringing some of the granite to Point Reyes and to the Farallon Islands. Keep that in mind as you hike to this cache and look out into the Pacific. Those islands you see on the horizon used to be part of this mountain!! And all of it used to reside 300 miles away with its brother - the Southern tip of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Bakersfield. (Much text and much information from http://www.summitpost.org/montara-mountain/150855 and from http://fog.ccsf.cc.ca.us/kwiese/content/Classes/Geol41FieldGuide.pdf )
To log this cache please send your answers to the cache owner. DO NOT PUT INTO THE LOGS. Any log without the required e-mail (within 5 days of the log) will be deleted, as will logs with answers. Requirements: (1) Describe the granite to me - what color(s) is/are it? Is it hard or can you break it with your hands? (2) The rock appears to have shiny elements in it - what do you believe causes this granite to have this quality? (3) Can the granite itself host any life? If so, tell me what you see living in the granite. (4) Does the granite change at all from the trail to the peak?
Some logs mention some possible construction so if that blocks you from 50 or so feet, you can still do your observations from there and, once answers are sent in, log this EC.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Fbzr ybtf zragvba fbzr cbffvoyr pbafgehpgvba fb vs gung oybpxf lbh sebz 50 be fb srrg, lbh pna fgvyy qb lbhe bofreingvbaf sebz gurer naq, bapr nafjref ner frag va, ybt guvf RP.
Treasures
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