The Sandia Crest is part of the Cibola National Forest and has lots of opportunities for all kinds of outdoor uses including Earthcaches! There is a $3.00 one day use fee that you can pay at many locations of the forest.
The Sandia Man Earthcache is located at an old archeological site that was found and excavated by Dr. Frank Hibben. He allegedly found evidence of artifacts dating to the Folsom era. I say allegedly as there are some questions to the dating of the artifacts under the dripstone layer .In order for an Archeologist to date an area they must complete a geochronology of the site.
Geochronology is the science of determining the age of rocks, fossils, and sediments, within a certain degree of uncertainty inherent to the method used. A variety of dating methods is used by geologists to achieve this, and schemes of classification and terminology have been proposed. The approach of using several methods is preferred for best results.
In a paper for the Smithsonian Institute Dr. C. Vance Haynes Jr. and Dr. George A. Agogino stated in the their preface that “In 1961 we entered Sandia Cave with the naive thought that we could collect bone samples from the Sandia and Folsom levels for radiocarbon dating and thereby solve the question of the ages of these two important cultures. We also intended to update geologic-climatic interpretations. Our first surprise was a pleasant one. We found that remnants of the strata still existed in the excavated forward portion of the ____. The second surprise was stratigraphy more complex than we had anticipated. It was not until the second visit that we became convinced that there had been at least two periods of dripstone formation separated by a significant period of time. On the third visit a remnant of the "Folsom breccia" was found that covered a broken edge of the lower dripstone adhering to the north wall. Clearly, the breccia, topped by a dripstone, was inset against an older sequence topped by another dripstone. This proof of the prehistoric removal of the lower dripstone made more understandable the differences in stratigraphy described by different investigators.”
Geochronology is extremely important in order to date any area but the structure of the formation is also important to understand the geological phenomenon that happen. The formation that you are in is a hollowed out area inside the Madera group limestone hill side…but another question is…is it a cave or a rock house?
A cave or cavern is a natural underground space large enough for a human to enter. Caves form naturally by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The formation and development of caves is known as speleogenesis. Caves are formed by various geologic processes and can be variable sizes. These may involve a combination of chemical processes, erosion from water, tectonic forces, microorganisms, pressure, and atmospheric influences.For karst caves the maximum depth is determined on the basis of the lower limit of karst forming processes, coinciding with the base sequences limestone,which may be lower than the erosion base due to the presence of siphon channels. Most caves are formed in limestone by dissolution.
Rock Houses are formed in sedimentary rock when water leaks through the horizontal joints running parallel to the cliff face. In the cold months this water freezes and expands. As the water expands, it pushes the layers of rock apart. That’s why if you look in the rock house, the rocks you see laying on the ground are in almost perfect geometric shapes.
The only way of claiming the find is to answer a few questions of this site. Please e-mail me the answers and then log your find. No answers = no find.
The Questions….
1. Is this site a cave or a rock house?
2. How do Geologists help Archeologists validate their research?
3. What evidence is there in this site that Geologists performed this research (you can use the number of the evidence and the location in the structure)?
4. Optional...Take a picture of you facing away from the area and toward the opposite side of the canyon. On the stairs is fine.
This is a registered Historic Landmark. Happy Caching!
Wikipedia contributors. "Geochronology." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 20 Aug. 2013. Web. 31 Aug. 2013.
Haynes and Agogino. “Geochronology of Sandia _____” Smithsonian Institution Press, City of Washington, 1986. Web . 20 Apr. 2013
Wikipedia contributors. "Cave." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, Web. 20 Apr. 2013
Team Geologynut. “111 Rock House GC14JTC,” Geocaching.com, Web, 20 April 2013
***Congrats to Thoehn and Sandpig for their co-FTF***