-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(other)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
This Gothic style monument was erected in 1879 to the memory of Kenneth Murray ( 1825 ~ 1876 ) of Geanies, a provost of Tain by public subscription.
On street parking, level with the built up to street height grey and yellow sandstone monument after manner of the Scott Monument in Edinburgh. A marble bust and plaque face the street, under a spire borne by four cusped arches, with nook shafts and buttressed and pinnacled angles of yellow sandstone. Looking over the wall down into the rose garden below you see the red sandstone rubble plinth it all sits on.
The three main types, or classes, of rock are sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous and the differences among them have to do with how they are formed.
Marble is a metamorphic rock that forms when limestone a sedimentary rock is subjected to the heat and pressure of metamorphism. It is composed primarily of the mineral calcite (CaCO3) and usually contains other minerals such as: clay minerals, micas, quartz, pyrite, iron oxides and graphite. Under the conditions of metamorphism the calcite in the limestone recrystallizes to form a rock that is a mass of interlocking calcite crystals.
Marble is usually a light-colored rock. When it is formed from a limestone with very few impurities it will be white in color. Marble that contains impurities such as clay minerals, iron oxides or bituminous material can be bluish, gray, pink, yellow or black in colour. The veins and swirls present in many marble pieces occur when various mineral impurities mix with the original limestone , natural marble will show its impurities through these long sinewy streaks.
The formation of sandstone, a sedimentary rock, involves two principal stages. First, a layer or layers of sand accumulates as the result of sedimentation, either from water (as in a stream, lake, or sea) or from air (as in a desert). Typically, sedimentation occurs by the sand settling out from suspension; i.e., ceasing to be rolled or bounced along the bottom of a body of water or ground surface such as in a desert or erg (a broad, flat area of desert covered with wind-swept sand with little or no vegetative cover). Finally, once it has accumulated, the sand becomes sandstone when it is compacted by pressure of overlying deposits and cemented by the precipitation of minerals within the pore spaces between sand grains.
The environment where it is deposited is crucial in determining the characteristics of the resulting sandstone, which, in finer detail, include its grain size, sorting, and composition and, in more general detail, include the rock geometry and sedimentary structures. Principal environments of deposition may be split between terrestrial and marine.
Terrestrial environments would include rivers, alluvial fans, glacial outwash, lakes and deserts. Marine environments would be deltas, beach sands, tidal flats, offshore bars, sand waves, storm deposits (tempestites) and turbidites (submarine channels and fans)
Red Sandstone consists predominantly of rocks of terrestrial origin, it does not generally contain marine fossils. The familiar red colour of these rocks arises from the presence of iron oxide. They are made of small, rounded sand grains and have a high degree of sphericity, are well sorted and typically have a small size range (0.5 mm to 2 mm).
To claim this earthcache, please send the answers to the questions below to us by email / message centre - do not post in your online log.Your log may be deleted if this criteria is not met. Educational guidelines for Earthcaches are set by Geocaching.com and GeoSociety.org (Earthcache) and have to be adhered to.
1) Looking at the marble bust and plaque, and from what you have read in the above text, what are the differences between the two and how did this happen?
2) Leaning over the wall to look at the red sandstone plinth, look closely at the pattern on the 4th block in from the left on the top row. How would you describe this pattern and how do you think it was formed? Give reasons
3) What differences can you see between the grey sandstone (directly above the red sandstone) and the yellow sandstone? Why do you think this is?
4) On the 1st big block on the right hand side of the grey stones, you will see 3 lines of writing, what does the middle line say?
5) Now go down the steps to the rose garden, and look at the side of red stones facing into the garden. Find the stone 6 up from the ground, 2 in on the right hand side and describe what you see in it. How big is it and how do you think it got here? ( The block diagonally above to the right has another 2 )
While not compulsory it is always good to see photos of your visit.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)