I Got Gypped! EarthCache
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Contrary to images of endless farm land, mid-grass prairies and flat terrain, southern Kansas is a landscape of mesas, deep canyons, caves, sharp rock outcroppings and red soils. Once, the bottom of an ancient inland sea, the region, especially Barber County, is geologically diverse. Several types and ages of rock layers, deposited during the Permian Period, some 250 million years ago based on current scientific theory, are on display.
Most of the western half of Barber County is covered by the Flower Pot Shale and Blaine Formation, rock formations comprised of layers of gypsum, shale and limestone. Gypsum (CaSO4•2H2O) is calcium sulfate with two water molecules. Mostly colorless to white or gray, it is very soft and it can be scratched with a fingernail.
Deposited when the Permian sea evaporated, gypsum is an evaporate and mined in the hills of the Ogallala Formation, such as the scenic Red Hills, also known as the Gyp Hills.
Gypsum is divided into these three varieties:
Selenite - flat, transparent, diamond-shaped crystals found throughout the Red Hills.
Satin spar - white or pink fibrous material with a silky luster and common in the Red Hills. It is found as thin layers in rock beds and in certain shale.
Rock gypsum - coarse to fine granular material, white to gray in color containing varying amounts of impurities.
One such gypsum-capped outcropping can be seen along the Gypsum Hills Scenic Byway portion of U.S. Highway 160, about twelve miles west of Medicine Lodge. The Byway bisects a long strip of red shale layers, the softer materials worn away by erosion, leaving the harder upper layered rock on the mesas above. This outcropping is a sample of the varying vegetation, topography and geology abundant in the Gyp Hills.
The coordinates place you at safe parking at the side of the byway. You can hike the short and steep distance to the gypsum-capped mesa tops for panoramic views and testing. If unable, you can examine the red shale layers along the road.
To log this earthcache, visit the site and submit your answers to these questions:
1) If you find gypsum, How would you describe the material, i.e. color, texture, density?
2) Which of the three listed types of gypsum have you found?
3) How would you describe the layers of rock on either side of the road?
4) What is your estimation of the relief (elevation) of the rock walls?
OPTIONAL: Photographs will be met with giddy earthcache-geek excitement.
Resources and credits:
Natural Kansas
Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks & Tourism
Kansas Geological Society
Placed by a member of D.A.W.G.S.
Denton Area Wayward Geocache Seekers
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