This earth cache will help you to explore Mason Island and to discover some of it's beauties.....
To get to Mason Island drive to Más, Ard West, Ard East or Mweenish piers and ask someone to take you over for an agreed price. If you sail or kayak then the world is your oyster it is an easy journey over. Ask local people about tides and safety before making the trip. Wear buoyancy aids.
Limestone is a sedimentary rock, which means it was formed from small particles of rock or stone that have been compacted by pressure. Sedimentary rock is important because it often contains fossils and gives clues about what type of rock was on the Earth long ago. Layers found in sedimentary rock can tell about important changes in the environment.
Granite is a light-colored igneous rock with grains large enough to be visible with the naked eye. It forms from the slow crystallization of magma below Earth's surface. Granite is composed mainly of quartz and feldspar with minor amounts of mica, and other minerals.
Quartz is one of the most well-known minerals on earth. It occurs in basically all mineral environments, and is the important constituent of many rocks. Quartz is also the most varied of all minerals, occurring in all different forms, habits, and colors.
Mudstone, a type of mudrock, is a fine-grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Grain size is up to 0.0625 mm with individual grains too small to be seen without a microscope.
Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite.
Marble is a metamorphic rock formed when limestone is exposed to high temperatures and pressures. Marble forms under such conditions because the calcite forming the limestone recrystallises forming a denser rock consisting of roughly equal calcite crystals.
The Trailhead coordinates are on the pier which is the main harbour on the island...... hopefully you will land there....
Stage 1. Open-air oratory here you will find a long stone with a cross carved on it, name the type of stone it is made from.
You will also see some other light coloured, flat stones lying on the ground, describe the markings on them. How do you think these markings have been made? What type of stones are they?
Stage 2. The Schoolhouse. What date is on the the stone on the outside of the Schoolhouse? Is it the same type of stone as the building?
Stage 3. The beach. Walk some of the beaches and find and name one other type of stone you find there. Using all the information gathered what, would you say, is the main stone on the island?
Email your answers to me at the above address. Please don't include photos that will spoil it for others, they will be deleted.
This cache is based on the "Leave No Trace Principals" please leave nothing, take only photographs, memories and all litter home with you
Use the roads to cross the island. Please be very careful crossing walls... look for, and use the stiles.....
