EARTHCACHE REQUIREMENTS
Each cacher must send his/her own answers BEFORE logging a find. Enjoy the journey (learning adventure) as well as the destination (smiley earned). Remember to take only pictures and leave only footprints. To get credit for this Earthcache, complete the following tasks:
1. MESSAGE …. Observe the rock from both the front (roadside) and back (mountainside). You will notice there are significant differences between these two views. Describe two of them. HINT: Cache page has information regarding staining, folding, and banding.
2. MESSAGE …. Mystery - Since this is one rock and not several rocks fused together, how did the front and back form so differently? Explain why there is such a difference between them.
3. MESSAGE …. ... Hypothesis - There are several ways a large rock may appear on the landscape with no visible rocks nearby. Explain how this lone rock appeared here.
4. LOG …. Post a picture of you or your signature item at or near the coordinates. This picture is your log signature.
OPTIONAL - Please respect the time and effort involved in finding and creating this earthcache by adding A and B to your log.
A. JOURNEY OF THE MIND ... Science explains what we observe. Relate (in your own words) something you found interesting in the reading. This adds to your learning adventure and your log.
B. JOURNEY OF THE HEART ... Art shares our personal experience of what we see. Share something special you found on site, and why it is special to you. This is a memorable addition to your log and will make other hearts smile.
Journeys of Heart and Mind ...
Stories to Touch the Heart and Puzzles to Challenge the Mind / Rainbow Tree Story
THANK YOU Mark W. Carter for permission to use your book for this earthcache.
THANK YOU Lillian for permission to place this earthcache along the Blue Ridge Parkway.
STANDING ROCK
The rock is a folded biotite gneiss and biotite-hornblende gneiss with quartz and feldspar-rich layers showing curved banding. Red iron-oxide stain, visible in places, results from the weathering of biotite mica and other iron-bearing minerals.
Biotite Gneiss (pictured above) is a metamorphic rock. Metamorphic rocks form under intense heat and pressure. Metamorphic rocks start out as igneous rocks, sedimentary rocks or other types of metamorphic rocks. Through heat and/or pressure, the rocks change characteristics such as sheen, tightness of grain, hardness, and banding.
STAINING
Most sedimentary rocks contain iron in varying degrees. This mineral may appear in patterns or dispersed randomly throughout the parent rock. Pyrite and pyrrhotite, predominantly reddish in color, are quickly decomposed by chemical weathering forming the iron minerals hematite and limonite. These minerals impart stains of red, orange and brown to the rock surface. Iron sulfate minerals also form and impart cream colored to yellowish stains.
FOLDING
Rocks are deposited as horizontal strata. However, when compressional forces deform the rock, folds result. The greater the compressional forces, the steeper the fold.
BANDING
Banding aka foliation is caused by different minerals aligning during the metamorphic process.
LONE ROCK
At this location, there is a 13' tall rock perched on the side of a mountain.
There are several ways a large rock may appear on the landscape with no visible rocks nearby.
EROSION - Differential erosion will cause rocks to be hewn from the surrounding bedrock.
GLACIAL ERRATICS - The power of moving ice changes the landscape in a variety of ways. Glaciers break off huge chunks of rock and carry them along until they rest far from their original location. These boulders differ from the native rocks of the area.
GRAVITY - Cracks form in rocks through mechanical or chemical weathering. When the gravitational force exceeds the bonding of rock to rock, huge chunks cascade down the slope.
LANDSCAPING - Huge rocks are often moved to various locations for landscaping purposes.
PLUTON - An igneous rock crystallized from magma slowly cooling below the surface of the Earth. Due to erosion, the rock is exposed.
WIND - Tornado force winds are capable of moving tons of rock from one place to another.
RESOURCE
A Geologic Adventure Along The Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina by Carter/Merschat/Wilson ... 2001