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Honeycomb weathering in Batemans Bay EarthCache

Hidden : 8/7/2017
Difficulty:
2.5 out of 5
Terrain:
3 out of 5

Size: Size:   other (other)

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Honeycomb weathering? Has that got anything to do with bees?

 

No, of course not. From honeycomb weathering occurs when a binder is dissolved in sedimentary rocks only and then solidifies again. This creates structures like honeycomb.

 

 

Geology / Petrographic

The three major craters, the core areas of Australia, were formed in the Archaic. Their history is very complicated and took a long time. In a series of mountain formations between 2400 and 1600 billion years, they were united into a cohesive land mass. At the time of the Palaeoproterozoic, about 2 to 1.8 billion years ago, several sedimentary basins were formed. It was not until much later that the deposits that we can see today are here. This happened only in the time of Devon. During the Devon, a warm climate prevailed in Australia. The largest part of Central and Western Australia was land, in the area of the Great Sand desert there was a large bay where coral reefs grew. Flowing sand formed the sandstones. In an area that is today in the sea off the east coast of Australia, a chain of volcanic mountains was eroded, which delivered sediments into a basin in parts of today's east coast. Here sand and limestones came to deposit. Baragwanathia longifolia, a plant of the class of the bear foliage, appeared at this time as the first Australian land plant. The interior of the continent drained a large river system. The east coast was gathered around about 385 - 380 mya from the Tabberabberan orogenesis that crashed and folded Tasmania, Victoria and southern New South Wales in east-west direction. As a result, the deposited sands were pressed together and solidified into sandstone.

 

 

How now arises this weathering form?

 

Mostly the lime used as a binder in sandstone. He diffuses as a solution with the seepage through the rock For honeycomb weathering to occur, some research indicates that a source of salt is needed because the basic mechanism for this kind of weathering is salt heaving. Grafik
During evaporation of the water on the surface of the rock, mostly on steep walls or overhangs, the lime is deposited again and the rock in these areas solidifies. The process is similar if speleothems arise. It takes prolonged periods for this weathering to become visible, as the rock goes through cycles of wetting and drying. During the solidification also easily soluble alum is deposited. This sulphate salt destroys the structure of sedimentary sandstone and promotes the honeycomb formation. The honeycomb weathering is one of the types of chemical weathering.

 

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1.) Look carefully at the ground and feel the the rock. Describe it's texture. What does it feel like?

2.) Look at the soil with weathering. Does the honeycomb formation occur uniformly over the entire surface, or only at certain points?

3.) Examine the size of the honeycombs. Estimate the sizes of the largest and the smallest you can see!

4.) Why do you think there are such differences in size?

5.) Honeycomb weathering is a chemical type of weathering. What other types of weathering are there?


 

source directory:
-Wikipedia
-Picture by my  own

 

 

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