SQ - Clover Hill Park Cemetery Earthcache
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The SQ in the cache name above signifies Spirit Quest, a project to distinguish those caches that are set in cemeteries or memorial gardens. Please be respectful of the area, and observe their rules and posted hours, Michigan law states that you are only permitted to visit cemeteries dawn to dusk through out the state unless other hours are posted.
This cache is located in a Jewish Cemetery and is not availible to find on Saturdays.
This earthcache will show you some very unique tombstones.
Around the posted coord's you will find a historical marker put out by the cemetery. You will have to read it to find your answers to some of the logging requirements here at this site.
First, a liltte about headstones.
A headstone, tombstone, or gravestone is a marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. In most cases they have the deceased's name, date of birth, and date of death inscribed on them, along with a personal message, or prayer.
Many types of stone have been used as markers:
FIELDSTONES. The earliest markers for graves were natural fieldstone, some unmarked and others decorated or incised using a metal awl. Typical motifs for the carving included a symbol and the deceased's name and age.
GRANITE. Granite is a hard stone and requires skill to carve by hand. Modern methods of carving include using computer-controlled rotary bits and sandblasting over a rubber stencil. Leaving the letters, numbers and emblems exposed on the stone, the blaster can create virtually any kind of artwork or epitaph.
MARBLE AND LIMESTONE. Both limestone and marble take carving well. Marble is a recrystallised form of limestone. The mild acid in rainwater can slowly dissolve marble and limestone over time, which can make inscriptions unreadable. Portland stone was a type of limestone commonly used in England—after weathering, fossiliferous deposits tend to appear on the surface. Marble became popular from the early 19th century, though its extra cost limited its appeal.
SANDSTONE. Sandstone is durable, yet soft enough to carve easily. Some sandstone markers are so well preserved that individual chisel marks are discernible, while others have delaminated and crumbled to dust. Delamination occurs when moisture gets between the layers of the sandstone. As it freezes and expands the layers flake off. In the 17th century, sandstone replaced field stones in Colonial America. Yorkstone was a common sandstone material used in England.
SLATE. Slate can have a pleasing texture but is slightly porous and prone to delamination. It takes lettering well, often highlighted with white paint or gilding.
We will be focusing on the SANDSTONE variety here at this cemetery.
Now for some info on SANDSTONE:
Sandstone (sometimes known as arenite) is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow, red, gray, pink, white and black. Since sandstone beds often form highly visible cliffs and other topographic features, certain colours of sandstone have been strongly identified with certain regions.
Rock formations that are primarily composed of sandstone usually allow percolation of water and other fluids and are porous enough to store large quantities, making them valuable aquifers and petroleum reservoirs. Fine-grained aquifers, such as sandstones, are more apt to filter out pollutants from the surface than are rocks with cracks and crevices, such as limestone or other rocks fractured by seismic activity.
Sandstone is mined by quarrying. It is sometimes found where there used to be small seas. It is usually formed in deserts or dry places like the Sahara Desert in Africa, the Arabian desert in the Middle East and the Australian desert (including Sydney). In the western United States and in central Australia, most sandstone is red.
The formation of sandstone involves two principal stages. First, a layer or layers of sand accumulates as the result of sedimentation, either from water (as in a stream, lake, or sea) or from air (as in a desert). Typically, sedimentation occurs by the sand settling out from suspension; i.e., ceasing to be rolled or bounced along the bottom of a body of water or ground surface (e.g., in a desert or erg). Finally, once it has accumulated, the sand becomes sandstone when it is compacted by pressure of overlying deposits and cemented by the precipitation of minerals within the pore spaces between sand grains.
The most common cementing materials are silica and calcium carbonate, which are often derived either from dissolution or from alteration of the sand after it was buried. Colors will usually be tan or yellow (from a blend of the clear quartz with the dark amber feldspar content of the sand). A predominant additional colorant in the southwestern United States is iron oxide, which imparts reddish tints ranging from pink to dark red (terracotta), with additional manganese imparting a purplish hue. Red sandstones are also seen in the Southwest and West of Britain, as well as central Europe and Mongolia. The regularity of the latter favors use as a source for masonry, either as a primary building material or as a facing stone, over other construction.
The environment where it is deposited is crucial in determining the characteristics of the resulting sandstone, which, in finer detail, include its grain size, sorting, and composition and, in more general detail, include the rock geometry and sedimentary structures. Principal environments of deposition may be split between terrestrial and marine.
Now that you know a little about sandstone it's time to complete this earthcache.
Please answer the following questions in a email, do not post any answers in you log.
1. Looking at the color of these tombstones here, what would you say is the color and the cementing materials involved in the formation of this sandstone? Answer can be found in text above. Now reading the historical marker, which is really the material mixed in with the sandstone?
2. How old are some of these tombstones? Answer can also be found on historical marker.
3. Why do you think the tombstones here look the way they do as opposed to the other types of tombstones in the other parts of the cemetery? Answer can be found also by reading the historical marker.
4. Based on the condition of these sandstone tombstones, how many more years do you think they will be around before crumbling. Do you think the other types here in this cemetery will be around longer and why?
Also, a picture of you next to one of these unique tombstones would be great but not required.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)