The island of Cyprus has many interesting geographical features, but not all are as large as the cliffs or as tall as the mountains. By visiting the listed coordinates you will learn about geology on a smaller scale — because this is an EarthCache a type of cache with no physical container. So to "find" it you must send answers to the below questions by email or by using the Message this owner link above.
Alagadi Plajı
The two gently curved bays at Alagadi are also known as Turtle Beach and this is where the Society for the Protection of Turtles (SPOT) has a sea-turtle conservation and research centre. Because of its importance to turtle conservation the area is subject to access restrictions.
The beach is closed at night between 20:00–08:00 during nesting season (May to September). Please respect all signs and instructions and do not attempt to access this EarthCache if the beach is out of bounds at any time.
At the listed coordinates you will be standing on rock platform and if the tide is in, the waves will be lapping around your feet. Please exercise judgement and consider the tide and weather conditions, as well as your own swimming ability — it may be necessary to change into your swimming costume if the water is high.
Below your feet you will see many holes of various sizes in the flat rock. Some are very deep, others are shallower and they cover the platform leading into the deeper water. This EarthCache will teach you about their formation.
Pots, pans, basins and holes
These circular depressions in rocks are called many things in different parts of the world: potholes, pan holes, basins, giant’s kettles, rock mills, eddy mills or churn holes are all terms for the same phenomena. They form in turbulent water, seas, rivers and streams. They can even form on ocean floors and underneath glaciers as they melt!
The holes are formed when water consistently swirls in a circular current over a particular section of rock. The whirling eddies carry rocks, sand and pebbles which grind against on the surrounding rock. Over time, this abrasion wears away the rock and erodes a large hole as illustrated by the diagram below.
Potholes are generally smooth on the inside due being worn away like sandpaper. In fast-flowing rivers they are usually deeper than they are wide and sometimes cylindrical, with a hole in the bottom as well. This is because in rivers, the size of the grinding stone is generally large and wears away the bottom faster than the sides. However, potholes in oceans are normally the reverse: shallow but wide.
Potholes formed by the action of the sea tend to be wider than they are deep because the currents and tides aren't as strong as a stream or fast-flowing river. So any heavy rocks remain in the bottom of the hole, protecting the base from erosion while smaller pebbles and sand swirls around the edges to widen the hole at the sides. Sometimes, smaller potholes will combine to form larger potholes if they start to form near one another.
Questions to answer
Question 1 What is the approximate diameter and depth of the biggest of the potholes you can see?
Question 2 Are all the potholes you see circular or nearly circular? If you can see any that have different shapes and you have read the information above, what do you think has happened?
Question 3 Do the potholes vary in size? What does this tell you about the ages of the basins?
Question 4 Can you see anything that might be a basin starting to form? How many can you see as a percentage of the total number of potholes?
Question 5 Are all the potholes able to hold water? If not, why not?
It is not a requirement for logging the cache but we would really appreciate photos of you and you GPS at this beautiful place. Please do not reveal any of the answers though!
Please email your answers using the link in our geocaching profile, or send a message directly using the link at the top of this page. You do not have to wait for a reply before logging a find but we will review all answers and may delete logs we feel are not in the spirit of EarthCaching. We do of course welcome logs highlighting any issues that detract from the quality of the cache or any suggestions you have to improve it.
Thank you for visiting our EarthCache and good luck!
Sources:
Keweenaw Geoheritage
Wikipedia
The team at SPOT