Stoney Littleton EarthCache
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(other)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
Rocks are constantly moving and cycling between the three groups, sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous.
Rocks are broken into small fragments through weathering and erosion, these fragments are then transported by wind and rain into streams, rivers and finally lakes and seas where they are deposited on the sea bed. Over time the fragments build up forming layers. Dead animals and plants fall to the bottom of the ocean and are covered up by the rock fragments. Over thousands of years the animals and plants are preserved, as microorganisms and bacteria are unable to decompose the organism due to a lack of oxygen. Minerals take the place of the skeleton, leaving an imprint of the animal behind – a fossil. As the layers build up the rock fragments become compressed forming sedimentary rocks, which may contain fossils.
With time, more layers add to this, compressing the rock further and Earth movements caused the rock to be deeply buried and squeezed. This causes the rocks to be heated and they experience a lot of pressure. This causes their minerals to be chemically altered forming metamorphic rocks.
As the rocks move towards hot spots, within the earth, they are heated further turning into liquid rock, magma. As the magma cools, either inside the Earth or outside after a volcanic eruption, they turn into a hard rock which contain crystals, these are igneous rocks.
As these rocks are weathered and eroded the cycle starts again – this is The Rock Cycle.
At this point you are standing on a carboniferous limestone ridge, with an excellent view over Wellow Brook and Wellow. The limestone of the Mendip Hills was laid down in the Carboniferous period which dates back about 320-350 million years. Tectonic plate activity caused continent collisions which formed a series of mountains and hills 300 million years ago, which included the south west of England. The ridge has been weathered and eroded over time including by the brook, forming the hilly landscape you can see today.
The coordinates take you to the entrance of Stoney Littleton Long Barrow, also known as Bath Tumulus or Wellow Tumulus, which built around 3500BC. To the left of the entrance is a large rock slab.
1. Looking at this rock, which of the three types of rock (sedimentary, metamorphic or igneous) do you think this ridge is?
2. Why do you think this?
3. Based on this, what do you think this area used to be millions of years ago?
Please email your answers to me.
Placed with permission of the English Heritage.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)