King Alfred the Great EarthCache
Hidden : 3/31/2018
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size: other (other)

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Geocache Description:


Being an earthcache this one will focus on the statue’s base of granite.


King Alfred the Great Statue

One of the most easily recognisable landmarks in Winchester is the striking statue of King Alfred the Great, which stands at the eastern end of The Broadway, close to the site of the city's medieval East Gate. The statue of a suitably heroic Alfred was designed by Hamo Thornycroft, R.A., and erected in 1899 to mark one thousand years since Alfred's death. The unveiling of the statue was quite a social event, preceded by a procession through the packed city streets, and address by the Bishop of Winchester. The event was so important that it was reported in publications as far afield as the New York Times. The huge statue measures 17 feet from the base to the top of Alfred's arm. Curiously, the sword was made to be detachable, though the rest of the statue is a single, solid bronze casting. The statue is set atop a rectangular block of granite from Cornwall, with another tapered block acting as a base. Thornycroft's depiction of King Alfred must be taken as a bit of artistic license; the legendary warrior and lawmaker appears as a sort of romanticised Arthurian king with a thick, curling beard. This look is at odds with coins minted during Alfred's reign, which show him beardless. The Alfred Jewel, displayed in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, also shows Alfred to be clean-shaven. On a humorous note, a myth of uncertain origin states that if a female virgin at least 16 years old walks around the statue three times in a clockwise direction, Alfred will lower his sword.


Granite

Granite is an igneous rock made up of primarily quartz, feldspar, micas, amphiboles, and a mixture of additional trace minerals. These minerals and their variation in abundance and alteration give granite the numerous colors and textures we see in granite countertops. Formally, granite is a plutonic rock that is composed of between 10 to 50% quartz (typically semi-transparent white) and 65 to 90% total feldspar (typically a pinkish or white hue). Granite is an intrusive igneous rock, which means it was formed in place during the cooling of molten rock. Generally, the slower the molten rock cooled, the larger it’s mineral crystals with K-Feldspar megacrysts forming in special circumstances greater than 5cm. During formation of granite it is buried below kilometres of rock and sediment necessary to produce enough heat to melt rock. Of course, the granite we see today is near surface, and thus at some point was uplifted, causing overlying sediment to be shed via erosion. This transition from high pressure and temperature to atmospheric temperature and pressure can cause the granite to slightly expand and crack. This, in addition to seasonal variations in temperature can leave you with weakened and less desirable granite to use for countertops.



Porphyritic Granite


Porphyritic granite has the same chemistry & mineralogy as ordinary granite, but differs in the size range of its crystals.  Granites are coarsely crystalline igneous rocks, having a phaneritic texture.  Porphyritic granites have a mix of large and small crystals, but all crystals are still fairly decent-sized.   Large crystals in a porphyritic rock are called phenocrysts.  The smaller crystals make up the groundmass.  Porphyritic granites typically have K-feldspar phenocrysts (pinkish).  The groundmass is typically quartz (grayish), sodic plagioclase feldspar (whitish-gray), amphibole (black), plus sometimes biotite mica and/or muscovite mica.

What do I need to log this cache?

You will have to visit the GZ and answer the questions which are related to the coordinates given the earthcache.

What now then?

When answers are collected, send them to CO for verification.

Lastly Thank you for attempting our first earthcache and also to GeoawareUK3 who has been a great help along with our onboard Geologist.

You can log immediately answers are sent CO. If there are any questions about your answers CO will contact you. Logs without answers to CO or with pending questions from CO will be deleted without any further notice.

Please do not include pictures in your log that may answer the questions.

Questions

Examine both the upper and lower plinths.

1. What type of rock are they? How do they differ?

2. From the descriptions above which of the rocks is Porphyritic? Please explain the reasons for answer

3. Your answer in question 2, what do you believe to be the crystals and what size are they?

4. Are the top and bottom rocks from the same location? Please explain the reasons for your answer

5. Although voluntary, it would be nice if you could take a photo, without without revealing any answers!

Additional Hints (No hints available.)



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