Lest We Forget Alves EarthCache
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(other)
Related Web Page
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
Alves War Memorial is located at the western end of the village adjacent to the A96, there is parking just around the corner at the recycling centre N 57° 38.447 W 003° 27.331
The memorial is in the form of a wide octagonal drum-like base topped with a slender cylindrical column with a carved lion at the top made from grey sandstone, with pink granite plaques commemorating servicemen from the parish who died in WW I and II. John Wittet was the architect.
The name all alone, SGT. ALASTAIR J. TAYLOR R.A.F. KIRKHILL was with 617 Squadron his aircraft was shot down on the Dam Busters Raid of 16th May 1943. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Runnymead memorial as well as here where he was born.
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.
Granite is classified as igneous, arising from magma many miles below the surface. Granite formation begins when two tectonic plates collide. One plate will be pushed under the other creating a subduction zone. Rocks in the down-going plate are super-heated under extreme pressure, up to 1,600 degrees C, melting into magma which then rises upwards because it is hot and less dense than the surrounding material. While the magma pushed its way up and while it remained molten in the magma chamber, pieces of the surrounding rock were likely ripped off walls or fell off the ceiling of the magma chamber. Many of these pieces probably melted before the magma cooled, however a few pieces did not melt completely and were encased in the granite when it cooled. These foreign pieces of rock are called xenoliths.
Looking closely at the lower plaque on the south side, for 1939 – 1945 (background photo) and find STOKER EDWARD EWEN ROSS R N ARDGYE in the middle. You will see the black blob just under RN this is a xenolith.
When quarried, the granite is naturally rough, but it is made smooth and polished by grinding with hard abrasive particles. This process reveals the interior of the individual grains of the granite crystals, allowing us to see their size and shape rather well. For some of the minerals this morphology can be quite distinctive. Xenoliths provide important information about the composition of the otherwise inaccessible mantle.
Granite is composed mainly of quartz and feldspar with minor amounts of mica, amphiboles, and other minerals. This mineral composition usually gives granite a red, pink, grey, or white colour with dark mineral grains visible throughout the rock. There are different types of granite. The type of granite a particular specimen is, depends upon the percentages of minerals that make up the rock, especially quartz (Greyish colour), K-feldspar (Reddish colour), Na-feldspar (White) and Biotite (Black).
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 Look at the other plaques, describe where you can find another dark patch similar to the one in the text. (which plaque, what names/letters etc)
2 How big is this patch you have found and is it rounded or angular in shape? Can you give a reason for the shape?
3 Do most of the xenoliths you see here share a roughly similar appearance or do they appear to have come from a wide variety of different rock types?
4 Look at five of the rectangular crystals in the granite. Measure their length, average their size and then state whether the rock is coarse, medium, or fine grained using the following scale coarse crystals over 5mm in length, medium crystals between 1-5 mm in length , or fine crystal less than 1mm in length .
5 How big is the crystal above the L in Balfour and under Miller on the south side ?
6 Can you give another name for these patches other than xenolith? google may help
While not compulsory it is always good to see photos from your visit
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)