This EarthCache takes you to the memorial to the men from the 1/7th Battalion Royal Scots, who were killed in the railway disaster at Quintinshill on the 22nd May 1915. The Battalion was from Leith, and was on its way south to Liverpool, to embark for service overseas in Gallipoli as part of the 52nd Lowland Division. 216 men of all ranks were killed. This memorial remembers them.
Those who survived the railway crash went on to serve with the Battalion in Galliopli, Palestine and the Western Front.
Please be respectful to their sacrifice.
Lets look at the geology, we are looking at the sandstone which lies behind the cap badge.
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock, formed by sediment which has been laid down. In the case of sandstone, the sediment is sand and gravel.
➡️ How does it form?
The formation of sandstone involves two principal stages:
🔸️Initially a layer or layers of sand accumulate as the result of sedimentation, either from water (as in a stream, lake, or sea) or from air (as in a desert). Typically, sedimentation occurs by the sand settling out from suspension; i.e., ceasing to be rolled or bounced along the bottom of a body of water or ground surface (e.g., in a desert).
🔸️Finally, once it has accumulated, the sand becomes sandstone when it is compacted by pressure of overlying deposits and cemented by the precipitation of minerals within the pore spaces between sand grains.
The most common cementing materials are silica and calcium carbonate, which are often derived either from dissolution or from alteration of the sand after it was buried. Colours will usually be tan or yellow (from a blend of the clear quartz with the dark amber feldspar content of the sand). A predominant additional colourant is iron oxide, which imparts reddish tints ranging from pink to dark red, with additional manganese imparting a purplish hue.
The specific area we are interested in is Locharbriggs Sandstone, it was initially deposited in a desert environment, during the Cisuralian Epoch of the Permian Period.
When looking at sandstone, its classification can be added by describing the grain size. For this we use the International Scale.
This being an EarthCache, in order to log it, I ask that you answer some questions. Please send them to me, and do not include them in your log. You can send them to me by using the message facility or email, both of which can be found by looking at my profile.
1. Please describe the grain size of the sandstone.
2. What colour is it?
3. What environment did it form in?
If anybody would like to expand to this series please do, I would just ask that you could let Just-Us-Two know first at justustwo1013@gmail.com so they can keep track of the memorial numbers and names to avoid any duplication.