There is no geocache to find at the location. For this Earthcache you will have to identify a gemstone.
Read the descriptions below before answering the questions.
A ruby is a pinkish red to blood-red colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum (aluminium oxide). The quality of a ruby is determined by its color, cut, and clarity, which, along with carat weight, affect its value. The brightest and most valuable shade of red, called blood-red or pigeon blood, commands a very high price compared to other rubies of similar quality. Ruby is the traditional birthstone for July and is usually pinker than garnet, although some rhodolite garnets have a similar pinkish hue to most rubies.
Sapphire is a precious gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum, consisting of aluminium oxide (α-Al2O3) with trace amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, chromium, vanadium, or magnesium. The name sapphire is derived from the Latin "saphirus" and the Greek "sapheiros", both of which mean blue. It is typically blue, but natural "fancy" sapphires also occur in yellow, purple, orange, and green colors; "parti sapphires" show two or more colors. Red corundum stones also occur, but are called rubies rather than sapphires.[2] Pink-colored corundum may be classified either as ruby or sapphire depending on locale. Commonly, natural sapphires are cut and polished into gemstones and worn in jewelry.
Red garnet is one of the most common and widespread of gems, found in metamorphic rocks (which are rocks altered by heat and pressure) on every continent. But not all garnets are as abundant as the red or reddish-pink ones. A green garnet, tsavorite, also occurs in metamorphic rocks, but it’s rarer because it needs unusual rock chemistries and special conditions to form.
Quartz is a hard, colourless, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical formula of SiO2. Quartz is the second most abundant mineral in Earth's continental crust, behind feldspar. Quartz exists in two forms, the normal α-quartz and the high-temperature β-quartz, both of which are chiral.
Now for the task: Find the rock bridge in the photo. Sit on it facing downhill. There will be two big rocks in front of you. Look at the one on the right. Message me the answers to these first four questions. Please don't post them on your log.
- Name the three main colours in the rock that you see.
- What colour are the circles?
- What diameter do the largest circles have?
- Having read the descriptions above and perhaps using a bit of logic, which gemstone is this?
- Add a picture of yourself/your gps with the rock bridge clearly showing.
- Please don’t post a photo of the rock.
Continue on up to the Victoria Monument and you might find more small examples of this gemstone on or near the path.