Look at the rock beneath your feet...
You will see it is covered in scratches. It is hard to not notice them, the rocks are no longer smooth due to the influence of an external force. But it was not dinosaurs dragging out their prehistoric bins for collection that has caused these marks.
During the last Ice Age, ten thousand years ago, this hill was covered by a huge, slow moving shelf of ice. Try to imagine what it might have looked like. If you were stood here then where you are today, you would have had ice above you that was 500 metres high - that's three times more than the drop below you to the village.
As the ice moved, debris was caught underneath it. With the huge weight of the ice above it is hardly surprising it carved these scratches into the rock and these are quite impressive.
This is intended to be a straightforward EarthCache with no previous knowledge of geology required. You only need to observe the rocks at your feet when you arrive at the listed coordinates and formulate answers, no additional research is required. Please send me your answers when you log or soon after. If you don't send in any answers, your log may be deleted.
At the given coordinates there is a large area of exposed rock at your feet covered with scratches. It is between the cairn and the view of the village and should be fairly easy to find. Please observe it and answer the following questions. You must send me your answers either by email or by the messaging service to log a find on this EarthCache. If you do not send in the answers, your log will most likely be deleted.
1) Please describe the scratches to me. Include the following details...
- how deep is the deepest scratch (roughly)
- how wide is the widest scratch (roughly)
- what is the average gap between the scratches
- do all the scratches go in the same direction
2) Most of the scratches are carved into the rock but you will be able to spot a few places where there are 'inverted' scratches - there is a line across the rock that is higher than the rock surrounding it. This is also a consequence of the ice moving over the rock - why do you think this line is raised and not carved?
3) The majority of the lines go in the same direction. Please tell me what direction they go. (So for example, N to S - note, I don't expect you to know what direction the ice was moving, so using my example, either N to S or S to N is acceptable)
4) Please include a photo of you or a personal item with the cairn, or with the view. Please avoid including the scratches in your photo. As of 2023, this is a mandatory requirement.
Thank you for visiting the Craigendarroch Hill Ice Age EarthCache