This cache is placed in the Beaver Dam National Conservation Area. The area is closed to travel by moterized vehicles.  This is a hiking cache, as required by the BLM. Permission was given by the BLM If you see people that are riding in closed areas please report them to the BLM  (435) 688-3200

Logging Tasks

There are two large stones (black and white) at the cache site, with one smaller grey one.  (if you cannot see the two large different colored stones you may be off a few feet.

1. Please let me know the GC code and the people that you are submitting the cache answers for (if one is submitting the answers for the group), everyone should have visitied the site.
2. Which one is eroding more? and what is the difference in the erosion?
3. Tell what type of rock you think each is (igneious, metamorphic, and sedimentary), why do you say so?
4. Can you see the smaller crystals that make up the rocks? What is the difference/similarities?
5. looking at the broken rocks which is weathering with "desert varnish". looking at a broken part of it, what is the difference in color.
6. Add a photo of you from the location or of an identifiable item (paper with trackable name).  Posting a photo pulled from the internet, or photoshopped will result in instant deletion.

The desert here has very little native stone.  Almost all of it was carried miles from where they broke, erosion, mostly water tumbled the stones down to where they now lay.  As a result there are a lot of different boulders from different ages and of different types scattered about.  I came home with many beautiful samples of different kinds of fools gold, and other minerals laying around.

There are three main classifications of rock,

Sedimentary

Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the deposition and subsequent cementation of that material at the Earth's surface and within bodies of water. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause mineral and/or organic particles (detritus) to settle in place. The particles that form a sedimentary rock by accumulating are called sediment. Before being deposited, the sediment was formed by weathering and erosion from the source area, and then transported to the place of deposition by water, wind, ice, mass movement or glaciers, which are called agents of denudation. Sedimentation may also occur as minerals precipitate from water solution or shells of aquatic creatures settle out of suspension.

Sedimentary rocks are formed when sediment is deposited out of air, ice, wind, gravity, or water flows carrying the particles in suspension. This sediment is often formed when weathering and erosion break down a rock into loose material in a source area. The material is then transported from the source area to the deposition area. Another option is biochemical sedimentary rocks are created when organisms use materials dissolved in air or water to build their tissue such as doal, or limestone. The sedimentary rock is smaller and grey.

This is most likely Mauv Limestone. The nearest location where it is located is about 6 or more miles away.

Metamorphic

Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock types. The original rock is subjected to heat and pressure causing profound physical and/or chemical change. The original rock may be a sedimentary rock, an igneous rock or another older metamorphic rock. They may be formed simply by being deep beneath the Earth's surface, subjected to high temperatures and the great pressure of the rock layers above it. it. They can form from tectonic processes such as continental collisions, which cause horizontal pressure, friction and distortion. They are also formed when rock is heated up by the intrusion of hot molten rock called magma from the Earth's interior.

The metamorphic rock you see here is quartzite. It is called Prospect Mountain Quarzite. It is from about 4.5 billion years ago, before about all life on the planet. The nearest location of this quartzite is to your North East and is about 5-6 miles. Many miles from the nearest outcrop.

Igneous

Igneous rock is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava. Igneous rock may form with or without crystallization, either below the surface as intrusive (plutonic) rocks or on the surface as extrusive (volcanic) rocks. This magma can be derived from partial melts of existing rocks in either a planet's mantle or crust. Typically, the melting is caused by one or more of three processes: an increase in temperature, a decrease in pressure, or a change in composition.

 The temperature of cooling determines which types of minerals are found dominating the rock's composition. Rocks that begin their cooling at low temperatures tend to be rich in minerals composed of silicon, potassium, and aluminum. High temperature igneous rocks are dominated by minerals with higher quantities of calcium, sodium, iron, and magnesium. The rate of cooling is important in crystal development. Igneous rocks that form through a gradual cooling process tend to have large crystals. Relatively fast cooling of magma produces small crystals.

 One of the common issues with rocks with a lot of magnesium is that if it has a high amount in the rock over the years it can "rust" The rust turns the stone black on the outside, yet the inside is the more natural color. Our Igneous rock is dark here

I have had a hard time locating the age or type of this stone. I will have to dig and hunt some more.

Here they are

The odd part is that you would find a few large boulders of completely different types here in the middle of the desert. Where do they come from? There are no outcroppings here for them to be part of or fall from. You are looking at stones that traveled some distance from the mountains around us, and they are large heavy stones (or were) to start their travel to this location.