The listed coordinates will take you to a car parking area where you will find some unusual patterned rocks. The name of the cache should give you a clue as to what you are looking for.
These rocks provide good examples of xenoliths.
Xenoliths are pieces of rock trapped in another type of rock.
Most of the time xenoliths are pieces of rock torn from deep cracks or pipes in the earth as molten magma rises to the surface. The bits and pieces of rock are trapped in the magma but don’t melt into it and become xenoliths when it cools. This is how these xenoliths were formed. Xenoliths may also be formed by the intrusion of another type of rock via magma intruding into cracks in the base rock. To see an earthcache based on that different process, see GC9Q923 'Xenolith intruders at Mount Stuart'.
Xenoliths are usually visible. They have a different colour and density than the surrounding igneous rock. Xenoliths can be as small as a grain of sand or as large as a football, and as long as several metres.
To be considered a true xenolith, the included rock must be identifiably different from the rock in which it is enveloped
To log this earthcache...
Look around at the listed coordinates and find a rock containing xenoliths.
Please send me a message or email addressing each of the following questions and tasks based on your observations and the information supplied in the Cache Description above:
- Describe the colour, grain/crystal size and surface texture of the rock that surrounds and envelops the xenoliths.
- Describe the size range, shape and colour of the xenoliths and whether the grain/crystal size and surface texture of the xenoliths differs from the surrounding rock.
- Describe in your own words how the xenoliths became embedded in the rocks.
- Take a photo of the rocks, including either yourself or something showing your caching name. Include it in your message or email, but please do not post it in your log.
You may log your visit once you have submitted your answers to me. I will respond confirming permission to log, or seeking clarification if I feel that you have not properly answered the questions. Logs with no answers or photo sent will be deleted.
Please do not post your answers or spoiler photographs in your log.