The Scotsman Steps EarthCache

We are from Canada and if you are willing and able to translate the following geocaching page into the Scottish language for us, we would be very appreciative! HAHAHAHAHA

The posted co-ordinates take you to the top of the steps.

HOW TO REACH THE STEPS TO OBSERVE FOR THIS EARTHCACHE
apparently the steps are locked up at night but I'm not sure of the exact time.

count up from the bottom to step #70 (brown) & #71 (cream)
(the first lower marble level landing floor you are standing on is counted as #0)

OR

find the steps section (with 11 steps) with the ‘VERY light’ blue marble coloured step (there is only one) and use the 2nd & 3rd step below this light blue step in this section for the comparison in the question.

OR

count down from the top to step #35 & #34
(the marble level landing floor you are starting on is counted as #1)

Please answer the following questions:

(and contact the CO using the link under the cache title ~ your answers will be accepted via Email or the Message Centre)

Please observe steps #70 and #71
Step #70 is Picasso Brown marble from India (brown is the dominate colour)
Step #71 (higher step) is Violita marble from Italy (cream is the dominate colour)

1) What width-size are the bands in the lower step (step #70)?
2) Describe the difference in the pattern between these two steps.
3) What makes the difference in the pattern between them? ~ PLEASE READ THIS PAGE FOR THE ANSWER. The answer IS GEOLOGY RELATED (not "the pattern" nor "the colour")
OPTIONAL: consider posting in your smiley online log which step you like the most and why

Cachers who send all answers will receive a bonus.

Please DO NOT post a photo of steps #70 and #71; ALL OTHER PHOTOS ARE WELCOME.

Favourite: If you like this Earthcache, please consider giving it a favourite point so others will know you enjoyed the experience. Thanks a bunch for visiting ~ We hope you have enjoyed The Scotsman Steps.

History of the steps

The Scotsman Steps in the octagonal tower containing 104 enclosed steps lead from one city level to another linking the Old and New Towns of Edinburgh ~ the Scotsman Hotel on North Bridge to Waverley Station and to The Fruitmarket Gallery on Market Street.

The Scotsman Steps have been historically considered a road built in 1899 as part of the Scotsman Hotel building.

In the 1950s to 1980s the Edinburgh College of Art displayed the winning works from art competitions along the walls of the tower.

For many years the tower had been left without care and was continually vandalized.

Restoration began in 2009 by Edinburgh World Heritage and Edinburgh City Council to renew the steps and The Fruitmarket Gallery commissioned Scottish artist Martin Creed to make the area a public artwork. Called Creed’s “Work No. 1059” it was finished in 2011. The artist resurfaced each step with a different colour of marble from all over the world, a project that took two years to plan and complete.

The Scotsman Steps are locked every night after the last train into Waverley, and opened in the morning to coincide with the first train as they had originally been done to discourage unwanted behaviour.

Why an earth cache about The Scotsman Steps? We found it fascinating to see 104 different kinds of marble all in one place!

Metamorphic Rocks (meta=change) (morph=form)

= rocks formed by altering the chemical make up of the original (parent) rock with a process of heat or heat & pressure

Igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks that have been buried deep in the earth can be squeezed by other rocks on top of them pushing them down further and exposing them to high heat. Intense pressure and temperatures transform the minerals and chemicals. This alteration can happen by: changing the mineral configuration - growing larger or breaking down and forming new minerals; or by reacting to fluids that have entered the process. The kind of new rock that is formed depends on which types of rocks are used in the process and how long the process takes. Example: marble is made from limestone makeup and sometimes dolomite.

Some metamorphic rock show shiny crystals. Foliated textures (those subjected to uneven stresses of pressure) have materials aligned in ribbon-like layers or planes. (Example: slate {fine grained}, gneiss {coarse grained}) Nonfoliated textures show impurities but no visible alignment. (Example: marble, quartzite)

Two types of metamorphisms are:

a) regional: occurring over hundreds of miles/km usually associated with the faulting and folding processes, involving intense heat and pressure, that create mountains, foliated textures occur

b) contact or thermal: occurring over a smaller areas where hot magma comes in contact with the surrounding rocks and alteration occurs due to intense heat

Rocks have different colours due to:

a) minerals - come in a variety of colours (example quartz comes in many colours)

b) iron (II) oxide - gives the rock a colour of grey or green

c) iron (III) oxide - gives the rock a colour of red to brown

During metamorphosis at low temperatures and low pressure the calcite crystals will be small but grow larger during higher levels of metamorphism. Contact metamorphism can occur if hot magma heats limestone.

Marble

Raw marble is a metamorphic rock (the hardest type of rock) formed from limestone deep in the Earth’s crust when the calcite (a crystalline form of calcium carbonate, CaCO3) in the limestone recrystallizes by extensive pressure and heat creating a denser rock containing roughly equigranular (minerals or clasts of approximately the same size) calcite crystals.

During the pressure and heating stage “a partial melt and recrystallization can occur creating a pressure slide forming the ‘swirls’ or ‘veins’ people refer to in marble. These ‘veins’ are actually different beds of the rock formation. Beds form by the deposition of layers of sediment on top of each other and they might have variations in mineral composition.” … http://earthscience.stackexchange.com/questions/5233/how-do-the-swirls-and-veins-in-marble-form-in-detail

Pure marble is white. Impurities in the original limestone create many different decorative appearances in marble. For example: the presence of clay gives marble a grey look; the presence of iron oxide can give marble a yellow, red, pink or orange tinge .

Marble has many uses beyond its attractive appearance for art. Once manipulated, it can be used as a whitener for paint and paper; agriculture; medicines; food production, sculpture, building; even steps! etc.
 

CedarNCo have earned (GSA) Geological Society of America's highest Earthcache level:

Platimum Earthcache Level is awarded by Geo Society .org for visiting and logging 20 or more EarthCaches in 5 or more states/provinces/countries and have created 3 or more EarthCaches.