I noticed the cladding on the base of this building walking up to a gig at the Tolbooth. According to the name above the door, it used to be a bank.
Heading up the hill, where the road splits in two under the fine Wallace statue, it's the building on the left, look to the left of the pillars of the entrance.
Look at the feature obscured by the earthcache symbol in the photo
1) Describe the feature - what size is it, what colour is it? How does it differ from the stone surrounding it?
2) Of the Aptite Veins, Xenoliths and Phenocrysts (see the description below for information on how to recognise them) which do you think this is?
3) How do you think it was formed?
4) Take a photo of yourself at GZ, or an identifying item, being careful not to reveal any of the answers to the questions.
Please submit your answers via message though the Geocaching website or via email - there is no need to wait for a response before logging your find.
Granite Features
Aptite Veins
Aptite veins are thin, sheet-like bodies that cut across host granite. They consist of fine-grained, light-colored minerals like quartz, feldspar, and mica. These veins form when late-stage, silica-rich magma intrudes into fractures in the granite and cools rapidly.
Phenocrysts
Phenocrysts in granite are large, visible crystals within a finer-grained groundmass. They form when minerals like feldspar, quartz, or mica crystallize early during the cooling of granite magma. These early crystals grow larger than the surrounding minerals.
Xenoliths
Xenoliths, are foreign rock inclusions found within igneous rock formations, such as granite. Their formation begins deep within the Earth's crust, where molten magma slowly cools and solidifies to form granite. During this process, pockets of magma may intrude into existing rock formations, incorporating fragments of the surrounding rock into the cooling magma. These fragments, known as xenoliths, are often of different composition and texture compared to the surrounding granite. As the magma cools and crystallises over time, the xenoliths become trapped within the granite, preserving a snapshot of the geological history of the area.
Xenoliths are usually visible. They have a different color 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 meters.