Now be warned the people were so excited to have visitors to their village that it is not easy to go unnoticed. They surrounded our car within seconds! Very friendly and hospitable we were offered food, drink and a good price for the black dog! They are curious as to why visitors come so please be polite and expect to be followed. If they ask why you are there I have found look at rocks works pretty well. I have not left the usual Traditional close by as the villagers will make it almost impossible to retrieve without being seen!
I have seen so many wonderful rock patterns in the UAE on our caching travels and our explore days that I had to share some of them. There is a dearth of caches around here but it is a nice part of the country I hope this will encourage a few more cache drops.
So rock up, have a look at the rocks about and answer a few easy questions.
Rock Folds.
A little general knowledge and a refresher.
The Earth’s crust is made up of tectonic plates. It is the movement of these that has created the landscapes we see today. Some are new some old and some regular and some unexpected. The crust is made up of conglomerate rocks.
A layered rock that exhibits bends is said to be folded. The layered rock was at one time uniformly straight but was stressed and then developed arches and troughs. A compressive stress compacts horizontal rock layers and forces them to bend forming patterns.
Changes in shape and volume occur when stress and strain causes rock to buckle and fracture or crumple into folds. A fold can be defined as a bend in rock that is the response to compressional forces. Folds are most visible in rocks that contain layering.
Conglomerate rocks are sedimentary rocks. They are made up of large sediments like sand and pebbles. The sediment is so large that pressure alone cannot hold the rock together; it is also cemented together with dissolved minerals. They are also classified by the dominant clast size.
• Granule conglomerate 2–4 mm
• Pebble conglomerate 4–64 mm
• Cobble conglomerate 64–256 mm
• Boulder conglomerate >256 mm
When the sedimentary rocks are exposed to heat from the mantle they become metamorphic rocks as they have melted and morphed into a different class of rock.
Fold structures are found in various shapes and sizes, and some can be very complex. Some folds can also be confusing. We can observe folds on rock samples, outcrops, seismic images, and on satellite and aerial photographs. The complete picture of a fold structure may not be visible in an outcrop due to erosion or non-exposure. Therefore, to reconstruct and analyse fold structures it is important to understand their basic elements – or how they were formed.
Monoclines, anticlines and synclines.
Monocline is the most simple of rock folds. It displays only a slight bend in otherwise parallel layers of rock.
Anticlyne is a fold that is arched upward to form a ridge.
A syncline is a fold that arches downward to form a trough
Anticlines and synclines are usually made up of many rock units that are folded in the same pattern. The tip of a fold is called the nose. The centre axis of a fold is called the hinge line and lies in the axial plane that separates the rocks on one side of the fold from the rocks on the other side that dip in the opposite direction. Extensive folding is represented by a repeated pattern of anticlines and synclines. Two anticlines are always separated by a syncline, and two synclines are always separated by an anticline. One side of the fold is called the limb; a side‐by‐side syncline and anticline share a limb. Frequently, an anticline or syncline can be identified only from the systematic change in the dips of the sloping rock units from one direction to the other, identifying the hinge line of the fold.
To log this earth cache you must answer the following questions and post a photo of you or GPS at GZ.
Please send you answers in a private email and not the new messenger service thanks
- What range of Mountains is this a part of?
- What type of fold(s) can be seen looking north from GZ?
- Which tectonic plates were involved?
- Describe the ground at GZ (you should be in track with rock edges either side so easy to see)
This is an open desert ground so available at anytime but suggest daylight may assist a little with some of the questions. There are quite well used tracks just a short way of the main road so even 2x4 car should get almost as close as a 4x4.
Many thanks and happy caching 