IRONSTONE GULLET EarthCache

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Hidden : 1/12/2013
Difficulty:
2.5 out of 5
Terrain:
3 out of 5

Size: Size: not chosen (not chosen)

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Geocache Description:

WELCOME TO THE IRONSTONE QUARRY OF BRANSTON



A rural EarthCache bringing you to a lovely location to learn about the past industrial Geoscience of this area.

Please be respectful of the environment. There is on-line research to do in order to answer the questions.

Please e-mail me your answers before logging as found, do not post your answers on the cache page. And in order to receive a quick response please release your e-mail address to me when you submit your answers.

I have listed the questions first to make it less likely that you will miss them after download.

The information and description follow these questions.

THE QUESTIONS TO ANSWER :


1. HOW WAS THE IRONSTONE FROM THIS QUARRY LIKELY TO BE USED (TEXT)

2. WHAT IS A 'GULLET' IN QUARRYING TERMS (RESEARCH)

3. GO DOWN THE STEPS LEADING DOWN INTO THE QUARRY. THE IRONSTONE IS ON THE SAME SIDE AS THE STEPS. DO YOU THINK THAT MACHINERY WAS NECESSARY TO QUARRY THIS STONE? EXPLAIN YOUR ANSWER (SITE)

4. DESCRIBE THE COLOUR AND SIZE OF THE REMAINING IRONSTONE FROM ANY SEAM VISIBLE IN THE QUARRY, WHAT IS YOUR GPS READING. (SITE)

NOT ESSENTIAL : I WOULD APPRECIATE YOU POSTING A PIC OF YOU AND/OR YOUR GPS WHILST IN THE QUARRY.




Welcome to the disused Ironstone Quarry workings of Branston. The quarry was one of many in the Vale of Belvoir. It was a working quarry up until the middle of the last Century.

Not much remains of the workings and the old narrow gauge railways which operated around here, you may see a couple of relics in the village.

I visited this spot quite early in my Geocaching days, the area has stayed in my memory, so much so that I decided to research the old quarry, it’s significance to the community and also the GeoScience that caused the proliferation of Ironstone in this area.

I hope that you find the information interesting and the site as memorable as I do.

BRANSTON

Branston is a small village near to the borers of Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire, but it is actually situated in North East Leicestershire.

Men in Branston in pre-World War 2 times were almost all employed in the ironstone quarries bordering the village and on the 7 farms which were then in existence, the current population is somewhat different, but the village still seems to retain a feeling of the past.

WHAT IS IRONSTONE?

Ironstone is a sedimentary rock. This means that it is formed over time through the accumulation of sediment.

More specifically, ironstone is a form of chemical sedimentary rock, as the formation is dependent on dissolved sediments being deposited in a solid form from a solution.

In the case of ironstone, iron and oxygen mix together in a solution, and are deposited as sediment. When the sand was being deposited, living organisms became trapped in the sand or mud. This organic material then slowly attracts molecules of iron mineral around it. Slowly, over millions and millions of years, layer upon layer of iron, an ironstone concretion is formed.

Ironstone is a heavy, fine-grained rock with a brownish exterior (due to oxidation), and a gray interior. While the iron content of ironstone is very high in comparison to other types of stone, it actually comprises less than 50 percent of the mineral content.

WHAT IS A SEDIMENTARY ROCK?

There are three main types of rock: sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic.

Formation of sedimentary rocks. A river carries, or transports, pieces of broken rock as it flows along. When the river reaches a lake or the sea, its load of transported rocks settles to the bottom. We say that the rocks are deposited. The deposited rocks build up in layers, called sediments. This process is called sedimentation.

The weight of the sediments on top squashes the sediments at the bottom. This is called compaction.

The water is squeezed out from between the pieces of rock and crystals of different salts form. The crystals form a sort of glue that sticks or cements the pieces of rock together. This process is called cementation.

These processes eventually make a type of rock called sedimentary rock. It may take millions of years for sedimentary rocks to form.

Sedimentary rocks are deposited in layers as strata, forming a structure called bedding.

The study of sedimentary rocks and rock strata provides information about the subsurface that is useful for civil engineering, for example in the construction of roads, houses, tunnels, canals or other constructions. Sedimentary rocks are also important sources of natural resources like coal, fossil fuels, drinking water or ores.

WHEN DID THIS IRONSTONE FORM?

Jurassic Period (205 million years ago)

Limestones formed in the shallow, warm seas which covered Lincolnshire. Mudstones accumulated in the basins and fuller’s earth, the mineral content of which is a product of volcanic activity, also accumulated at times. Deposition in river and lagoonal environments resulted in the ironstones, sandstones and mudstones, particularly in the Midlands. The early Jurassic sea supported a diversity of life including molluscs, brachiopods, crinoids and fish, as well as reptiles such as ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs.

That's it, the info is done, please respect the area, enjoy the site and be careful on the ladder!

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