Part of a series of EarthCaches and other Caches that demonstrate how Geology and Forensics are often used together to explain features we find in rocks.
Geology is the study of the Earth; its rocks; its structure; everything within it - and also the processes that shape its surface. Forensics is the use of science and technology to investigate and establish facts. Geologists, and especially palaeontologists, use the evidence found in rocks to deduce the environment that a sedimentary rock or fossil was deposited in, or the 'story' of how the crystals in a metamorphic or igneous rock formed.
For a brief on the 3 main types of rocks, and common examples of each, please see a previous Geological Forensics EarthCache, such as 'Geological Forensics 3' GC5VBMY. http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC5VBMY_geological-forensics-3?guid=0ad0d4ae-ac84-49b1-84a3-7b3129826a27
This simple EarthCache gives an insight into some of the different types of rock that we commonly see used in our urbanised town and city centres, requiring the cacher to study features in the ‘Whiteley retail outlet area’. The EarthCache will ideally take no longer than 30 minutes, completed within the pedestrianised shopping area, so is totally accessible for wheelchairs and strollers.
Whiteley can be found halfway between Southampton and Portsmouth, accessed via Junction 9 of the M27. Originally farm and woodland, it is now a thriving and expanding community, dominated by an 'out of town shopping centre'. Opened in 2007, the shopping centre was totally demolished in 2011, and re-opened with a new design in 2013. As one strolls along the paved pedestrianised 'streets' of the shopping area, you will note the shops all have the same exterior appearance; mainly glass frontages topped with metal/plastic roof edges, the individual retail spaces separated by vertical pillar sections composed of wooden cladding that sit above polished slabs of rock. This EarthCache focuses on the rock slabs, which are of the same rock throughout the main shopping area.
As usual with EarthCaches, there is no physical log. To log this EarthCache, please study any of the vertical rock slabs, then email me the answers (I recommend studying at least three different pillars). Please feel free to log your find after you have emailed me. Any incomplete or very wrong logs I will delete. Please do not post any photos of the slabs, but please do post photos of yourself being dragged around the shops, or enjoying the local natural surrounding areas.
Q1 - Are these slabs made of sedimentary, igneous, or metamorphic rocks?
Q2 - Look at the structures you can see in the slabs. Are they grains or crystals?
Q3 - Given your answer to Q2, what 3D shape do they have? (Answers such as 'triangles', 'circles', or 'squares' are wrong as these are not 3D shapes).
Q4 - Look at these shapes. They are composed of 2 'colours'. Which colour was ‘made’ first, and how can you tell?
Q5 - In between these shapes the areas are mostly in-filled by a black mineral. Given the size of each of these black 'pieces', how do you explain how these parts of the rock formed?
And last question just to summarise the above....
Q6 - What is the name of this stunning and very unique type of rock?
Good luck! 