Kentucky River
Marble
A
Native Kentucky Building
Stone
What is a building stone? Well, any type of dense, massive
rock suitable for use in construction can be defined as a building
stone.
You are standing in front of the Cove Springs Park Overflow Tower
that is compose of Kentucky River Marble quarried from an
on-site vein. It still stands as a reminder of the early
settlers of Frankfort. In the prehistory era, Cove
Spring was a buffalo crossing where Native Americans would hunt and
use the spring for water. In 1800s, Frankfort settlers built a dam,
forming the first public water supply west of the
Alleghenies.
This Earthcache highlights a specific type of building stone, its
origin, and an example of its use. Since pioneer lays,
limestone has been used for housing and fences. One of the
finest is "Kentucky River Marble," a crystalkine magnesium
limestone, or dolomite, from the Oregon Formation. The Oregon
limestone outcrops in the Kentucky River region of the Inner Blue
Grass is a fine-grained grey to cream-colored dolomitic of Lowville
age (470 million years ago), 15 to 25 feet thick.
Real marble is a metamorphic rock. Sedimentary rock from the
Oregon Formation has been used for Daniel Boone's Monument and the
old State Capital in Franfort and for Henry Clay's Monument in
Lexington Cemetery. Because the dense, finely
crystalline, Kentucky River Marble takes a polish like true
marble. Kentucky River marble is denser and less permeable
than other frequently used limestone. Therefore, due to its
weight, it was hard to transport and, was mined and used
locally.
Most limestones form in shallow, calm, warm marine waters. That
type of environment is where organisms capable of forming calcium
carbonate shells and skeletons can easily extract the needed
ingredients from ocean water. When these animals die their shell
and skeletal debris accumulate as a sediment that might be
lithified into limestone. Dolomite,
CaMg(CO3)2, is common enough to be considered
a rock-forming mineral. It is formed underground by alteration of
calcite.
The park is located at the northern city limits off of U.S.
127/Holmes Street. There are plenty of hiking trails, wetlands,
streams, springs, waterfalls, forested ravines, and other natural
and historic features. There are several caches located in the
park. Summer hours are 8:00 a.m. to dark (April-October). Please
check with staff for winter hours (November-March).
1. Earthcache is developed on Frankfort Parks and Recreation
managed property with permission.
2. It is illegal to climb on the formations, as well as
removing or vandalizing any portion of the formations. Leave
them as found so others can enjoy this EC.
3. It is the visitors responsibility or orient themselves with
policies and rules pertaining to this Department managed
site.
IN ORDER TO LOG THIS FIND YOU
MUST:
A.
Click on my profile and e-mail the answers for the following tasks.
Do not post your answers when you log in your find. Logs which do
not meet the requirements to claim the find will be
deleted.
1. What are the size of the limestone blocks
at the base of the stack (length and thickness)
2. Describe the feeling of the limestone
when you touch the blocks. Does it feel gritty like sand paper or
smooth?
3. Look closely at the limestone. Is there
evidence of fossillized organism. If so, describe what you
see.
4. Estimate the height of
the overflow tower.
B.
(Optional, though greatly appreciated) Take and log a picture of
you (and your group) standing near the Cover Spring Overflow
Tower