East Grinstead Millennium Stone EarthCache
East Grinstead Millennium Stone
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The Millennium Year 2000 was marked by the placing of a beacon just near East Court Mansion and by the installation, on the Meridian Line, of a large block of unworked ironstone supplied by nearby Phillpots quarry.
This stone will be the topic of the Earthcache.
On the stone, you will see a plaque, which reads:
"This stone is not only a monument to the Year 2000
but also a tribute to the town’s people,
particularly our children
and a reminder that they are our future.
It is here to be enjoyed, touched and worn away by human contact.
I hope that it will transform as a result of our existence."
With this in mind, I wanted this stone to have an Earthcache that could easily be completed and enjoyed by all ages.
As mentioned above, the Millennium Stone is made from ironstone, of which there are 2 types.
Ironstone
Ironstone is a sedimentary rock, either deposited directly as a ferruginous sediment or created by chemical replacement, that contains a substantial proportion of an iron compound from which iron either can be or once was smelted commercially. This term is customarily restricted to hard coarsely banded, nonbanded, and noncherty sedimentary rocks of post-Precambrian age.
The Precambrian deposits, which have a different origin, are generally known as banded iron formations. The iron minerals comprising ironstones can consist either of oxides, i.e. limonite, hematite, and magnetite; carbonates, i.e. siderite; silicates, i.e. chamosite; or some combination of these minerals.
Banded Ironstone 
Banded iron formations (also known as banded ironstone formations or BIFs) are distinctive units of sedimentary rock that are almost always of Precambrian age. A typical BIF consists of repeated, thin layers (a few millimeters to a few centimeters in thickness) of silver to black iron oxides, either magnetite or hematite alternating with bands of iron-poor shales and cherts, often red in color, of similar thickness, and containing microbands (sub-millimeter) of iron oxides Some of the oldest known rock formations, formed over 3,700 million years ago, include banded iron layers.
Banded layers rich in iron were mostly deposited between 2,400 and 1,900 mya.
To claim this Earthcache, please email me through my profile, the answers to following questions:
Please note: Found logs that are not backed up with the answers will be deleted after one week.
1.) Examine the stone. What does it feel like? What different colours can you see in it?
2.) Using what you have seen at the stone and from the text above. Do you think this stone is from Precambrian age or post Precambrian age? Explain your answer.
3.) Approximately how big is the stone?
4.) As an optional extra, it would be great to see photos of you and your group at the stone.
Once you have visited the stone you could explore the very close by, Ashplats Woods, where there are a number of other caches to be found.
Enjoy your visit
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Treasures
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