This Earth Cache is located at the original site of the HMAS Moreton and is located a short walk out of the Botanic Gardens, along the Botanic Gardens Bikeway.
The City Botanic Gardens are Brisbane's original botanic gardens and are located on the Brisbane River. Features include sculptures, ornamental ponds, markets, weddings, a great place for a picnic or enjoy a run, walk or ride along the outer edge, along the Brisbane River.
Granite is a common type of felsic intrusive igneous rock that is granular and phaneritic in texture. Granite can be predominantly white, pink, or gray in color, depending on their mineralogy. The word "granite" comes from the Latin granum, a grain, in reference to the coarse-grained structure of such a holocrystalline rock. By definition, granite is an igneous rock with at least 20% quartz and up to 65% alkali feldspar by volume. These rocks mainly consist of feldspar, quartz, mica, and amphibole minerals, which form an interlocking, somewhat equigranular matrix of feldspar and quartz with scattered darker biotite mica and amphibole (often hornblende) peppering the lighter color minerals. Occasionally some individual crystals (phenocrysts) are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic texture is known as a granite porphyry. Granitoid is a general, descriptive field term for lighter-colored, coarse-grained igneous rocks.
Granite
Granite is classified according to the QAPF diagram for coarse grained plutonic rocks and is named according to the percentage of quartz, alkali feldspar (orthoclase, sanidine, or microcline) and plagioclase feldspar on the A-Q-P half of the diagram. True granite according to modern petrologic convention contains both plagioclase and alkali feldspars. When a granitoid is devoid or nearly devoid of plagioclase, the rock is referred to as alkali feldspar granite. When a granitoid contains less than 10% orthoclase, it is called tonalite; pyroxene and amphibole are common in tonalite. A granite containing both muscovite and biotite micas is called a binary or two-mica granite. Two-mica granites are typically high in potassium and low in plagioclase, and are usually S-type granites or A-type granites.
Feldspars are a group of rock-forming tectosilicate minerals that make up as much as 60% of the Earth's crust. Feldspars crystallize from magma as veins in both intrusive and extrusive igneous rocks and are also present in many types of metamorphic rock. Rock formed almost entirely of calcic plagioclase feldspar is known as anorthosite.Feldspars are also found in many types of sedimentary rocks.
Feldspar
Questions
Q1 Describe the granite rocks that you see here. How many do you count and do they differ from each one?
Q2 Feel the rock for the texture. How does the rock feel? Is it different from one part of the rock to another?
Once you complete the EarthCache requirements you can post your find without delay, as per the EarthCache guidelines. You will also need to verify your find by sending me a message and provide your answers to the questions.
For a link to my profile, click here - Na'wal
Thanks for visiting this Earth Cache. Hope you enjoy the location.
Feel free to attach photos to your log (optional)
References ~ wikipedia