This is an Earthcache – as such, there is no physical cache. Instead after reading the lesson and examining the memorial at the posted coordinates, you will then answer 3 earth science questions and message me the answers. This earthcache is located in Dave Craig Park with permission. Please visit between dawn to dusk.
Welcome to the Sergeant Alfred B. Hilton Memorial. Hilton was an African-American Union Soldier who was the recipient the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions in the battle of New Market Heights in 1864. Sergeant Hilton is one of 16 African-American Union Army Soldiers to receive the Medal of Honor for their service during the American Civil War, and the only service member from Harford County to receive the award.
This memorial was unveiled here on November 4, 2022. It features two black granite panels, sourced from India, weighing 4,300 pounds each. Between these two black slabs is a bronze representation of the Medal of Honor that is mounted on a slab of Georgia Gray Granite.
Major producers of Black Granite in India hail from its southern states. Andhra Pradesh has the highest number of granite quarries in India due to its closeness to the Eastern Ghat mountain range. Here there are around 40 quarries spread over 400 acres of land. The sizes of the quarries range between 2 and 20 acres each. In 2005 Granite reserves in India were recorded as being 37,426 million cubic meters and ranked fifth in the export of processed product.
Black Granite from India is a Gabbroic Anorthosite, which is a coarse-grained igneous rock. These rocks are mostly composed of plagioclase feldspar. Indian Black granite tends to have a “Galaxy” appearance to it, as it has a black background speckled with gold colored mineral “stars.”
These shiny minerals consist of a ferriferous variety of enstatite often having a luster like that of bronze, and is a member of the pyroxene group of minerals. Pyroxenes are simply early-forming minerals that crystallized before the lava that created this granite erupted and are a common rock-forming minerals found in igneous and metamorphic rocks
LOGGING REQUIREMENTS:
To log this Earthcache: Read the geology lesson above. Answer all three questions posted below. Answers can be sent via e-mail or messenger contacts on my Geocaching profile within a reasonable time. Group answers are fine, but do not post the answers to the questions in your logs.
QUESTION 1. Look at the large black granite slabs that make up the memorial. Do the Enstatite crystals appear bronze, yellow, or white as you examine them?
QUESTION 2. Now look at the black granite that hosts the "Harford County - Related U.S.C.T. Civil War Soldiers" plaque. Do you see any Enstatite Minerals?
QUESTION 3. Do you think that the granite that hosts the Harford County Plaque black is the same as the India Black Granite of the Hilton Memorial?
OPTIONAL PHOTO: Posting a photo that readily indicates that you (and anyone else logging the find) are at the location.
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REFERENCES:
1. Alfred B. Hilton Medal of Honor Monument Dedicated, Society News, The Historical Society of Harford County, Inc, January / February 2023, Page 9, PDF, hshccatalog.org
2. Black Galaxy, the Star Granite from India , Litos Online
All about the world of natural stone, website, newspapers.com
3. Enstatite , Wikipedia, website, wikipedia.org