Natures Canvas EarthCache

The Painted Desert was seabed 80 million years ago. As the land rose, some of the rock has eroded away, leaving the Arckaringa Hills in many shades of orange, yellow, and white shale on the slopes.

This earthcache is in a remote desert area. Please ensure that you are properly equiped with a reliable and mechanically sound 4x4 vehicle, equiped with sufficient fuel, food, water and any other equipment that you might require.

At GZ you will be at the highest point of one of the Arckaringa Hills.

You can see here how the rock at the top of the hill is harder than the surrounding rock (on the way up). This has allowed the rock (and the hill beneath it) to stay in place while the land around it has eroded away.

Leaching minerals have then coloured the rock in shades of red, purple, orange and yellow, bringing 'paint' to the while shale 'canvas'.

You will also see a number of Mesas, hills with a generally flat top that stand out above the surrounding landscape, generally with vertical or steep sides.

To log this earthcache you need to answer the following questions. Please message the answers to the cache owner. Do not post them in your log.

1. Describe the rock at the top of the hill (or the top of the surrounding mesas). How does this very in colour and shape from the shale below?

2. What is the altitude of the top of the hill according to your GPS. How much higher is this to the location where you parked your car?

3. Looking at the surrounding landscape, What force do you think has eroded the land to leave the Arckaringa Hills the way that they are today?

4. How many mesas (stand alone hills) can you see from GZ. Only count those that are part of the Arckaringa Hills, not the ones off in the distance.

You can post your log online as soon as you submit your answers.

I will make polite enquiries if there are concerns about your answers and reserve the right to delete you log if you are unable to provide appropriate answers to the questions above.