To log this earthcache, please don’t stress about answering the questions. Simply send your best attempts in a private message to me, (the cache owner), and then go ahead and log it as found.
You don’t need to wait for my approval. All attempts will be accepted.
Have fun learning! 
- [REQUIRED] Take a photo of you or a personal item at the site to prove you were there and post it in your log.
- Describe the diabase rock here.
- How does this compare to the rock in St. Lawrence. (If you can’t view the St. Lawrence outcrop, please read the description below.)
- Name any feature of interest to you that hasn’t been listed in the description.
This earthcache is offered to be done in partnership with its "sister" earthcache in St. Lawrence, GCANAPM as a comparison of the oldest and youngest outcrops in the Avalon Zone. If you can, visit both and compare the outcrops. If you can only visit one, use the general photo of the other outcrop to compare with the one you are seeing at this location. You may do them separately and just use the description notes below to help guide you in answering the questions.
The Burin peninsula is home to both the oldest and youngest rocks in the Avalon zone. Around the community of Burin, the oldest are found; just along the coast in St. Lawrence are some of the youngest. You can easily see them both in a single day if you wish.
The outcrop we are examining here is beside the pond, along the first part of a complex mafic intrusion about 1.5 kilometres wide and 30 kilometres long. Known as the Wandsworth gabbro, it intruded between two thick stacks of volcanic rock and sediment. It is an even-textured, fine-grained greenish diabase that weathers to a soft brown colour. This is typical of the eastern margin of the intrusion.
The rock chemistry of the gabbro shows that it formed in a primitive volcanic arc, extracted directly from the Earth’s mantle. Rock like the gabbro in Burin may have been the “parent” to much of the Avalon zone.
St. Lawrence outcrop for comparison:
The most notable feature at St. Lawrence is the outcrop's colour in shades of pink. There are mineral grains ranging in colour from rose to orange to brick red. Those are all grains of potassium feldspar, the most common mineral in the rock. The light grey grains are quartz. These two minerals make up more than 95% of the rock.
The outcrop in St. Lawrence is very blocky and angular. As the granite crystallized and cooled, cracks formed at right angles, so when it weathers, the granite breaks along these lines, creating a blocky pattern.
REFERENCES:
Geology of Newfoundland Field Guide: Touring Through Time at 48 Scenic Sites. Martha Hickman Hild. Pages 184-187.