Rock-Solid Memories EarthCache

The listed coordinates are for a large granite stone.

Granite is a very hard and durable stone, perfect for use in buildings and memorials, but requiring great skill to carve and polish by hand.  In the early 18^th century Alexander MacDonald of Aberdeen, Scotland, invented a steam-powered cutting and dressing machine which was able to perform the work to a high standard. Since then the use of granite has become common and you will find granite memorials of this kind all over the world.

Granite is an igneous rock, granular in texture. It mainly consists of feldspar, quartz, mica and amphibole (rock-forming) minerals. The interlocking crystals of feldspar and quartz create a strong, dense, impermeable rock, frequently occurring in massive layers which enable huge structures to be made from it.

The rock in front of you is small by comparison.

One of the attractions of granite is that unlike many other materials each piece is unique, composition varying according to the location and therefore available materials.

To claim this earthcache you must carefully examine the memorial stone, while avoiding undue muggle attention in this busy park, and answer the following questions:

1. Briefly describe the shape, size and colour of most of the crystalline structures which make up the granite in this piece. Note that a general description of the size and shape of the memorial is not sufficient. You must look at the composition of the rock and comment on the individual elements mentioned above.

2. Find the odd inclusion out. It is probably a piece of older rock which became embedded in the granite as it was forming. Such inclusions are common in granite and this one is markedly different to the rest of the crystalline structure, so it should be easy to find. Describe its shape, size and colour.

There is a smaller memorial slightly west of this one.

1. Compare the size and colour of its crystalline structure to the larger memorial.

2. You will also find a stone inclusion in this memorial. Describe its shape, colour and size.

    

Please do not put your answers in your logs, but email them to Doctor Owl for approval. Logs that have not been accompanied by the correct answers will be discretely queried and if necessary deleted.