Strathaven War Memorial sits above the town, and remembers the dead of both World Wars. Men from Strathaven died in France, Belgium, Gallipoli, Salonika and East Africa during the Great War, with men dying in the Battle of the Somme, Loos, Arras and Passchendaele. Many regiments are named, indeed most of the Scottish Infantry regiments, Royal Scots, HLI, Cameronians, Gordons, Seaforths, Cameron and the Black Watch. There are also men from Canadian, Australian and New Zealand forces, evidence of how men and women from Strathaven emigrated before the Great War. For me, the memorial has a personal link, I have family on the memorial. It is a great viewpoint over the town. Whilst undertaking this EarthCache please pay respects to the men of Avondale who are remembered here. If you look around the cemetery you will soon spot the impacts of the war, with family memorials recording names, regiments and where some of the men died.
There are steps up to the memorial, so it's unfortunately not suitable for wheelchair users.
The geology of the war memorial.
The war memorial is constructed from granite, which is an igneous rock. Granite is not local to this area, and can commonly be found in South West Scotland and also in Grampian where it has been quarried in the past. It is a very hard rock, which does not break down easily when exposed to wind, rain and hot / cold temperatures. It is composed of minerals which can be seen easily using the naked eye.
◻️ Quartz. This is a clear or greyish mineral, and is the most common mineral found on the surface of the earth.
◻️ Mica. This is a black or sivery mineral, which look like flakes.
◻️Feldspar. This comes in a range of colours. Pink or white feldspar is known as as orthoclase, whilst grey is known as plagioclase. The pink colour, comes from K-Spar, which is also known as potassium feldspar.
Intrusive rock forms within the crust from the crystallization of magma. As the magma pushes up from deep, it eventually slowly cools into a solid, and forms rock. An intrusive rock is any form of igneous rock that forms within the crust of the planet. Large areas of magma that solidify underground before they reach the surface are known as plutons.When the magma is ejected from the earths crust, such as during a volcanic eruption, the igneous rock is then known as extrusive rock.
Intrusive rock forms within the crust from the crystallization of magma. As the magma pushes up from deep, it eventually slowly cools into a solid, and forms rock. An intrusive rock is any form of igneous rock that forms within the crust of the planet. Large areas of magma that solidify underground before they reach the surface are known as plutons.When the magma is ejected from the earths crust, such as during a volcanic eruption, the igneous rock is then known as extrusive rock.
As the magma flows and starts to cool within the pluton, parts of it become viscous, in laymans language, thicker and sticker than other parts. As it cools crystals starts to form. When an area of non viscous magma meets an area which is more viscous, it then creates friction, and a viscous layer is formed causing crystals, such as phenocrysts to slow down, and become caught in a layer. This creates what is known as laminar flow, which then presents as a streak when the magma has cooled and formed an igneous rock, in this situation granite. Ay times a distinct streak might not be apparent, but if the phenocrysts are looked at they are aligned with each other in the same direction.
The cooling of the magma affects crystal size in the granite, quicker cooling leads to smaller crystals, whilst slower cooling leads to larger crystal size.
This being an EarthCache, in order to log it you need to answer some questions about the geology of the war memorial. Please do not include them in your log, but send them to me by the geocaching message facility on my profile.
1. Please look at the panel on the war memorial panels which list the dead of the Great War. Looking at the crystals in the granite, at what rate would you say it has cooled?
2. Is it an intrusive or extrusive igneous rock?
3. Please look at the granite block as indicated in the above photograph. What is special about the granite in this block? By reading the above description, what would you say it is evidence of?
4. Why has granite been used for this memorial, considering its position over the town?
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.