Belfast Grand Central station is an integrated railway and bus station in the city centre of Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is the biggest public transport station on the island of Ireland. Belfast Grand Central replaced Great Victoria Street railway station and the Europa Buscentre. The first bus service, to Dublin, departed from the station on 8 September 2024, and the first rail service, also to Dublin, departed from the station on 13 October 2024.
At the given coordinates you will be standing outside the main pedestrian entrance to the station. The walk ways have been decorated with interlocking, rectangular pavingstones of multiple colours. The pavingstones are made from cut granite and the mineral content determines the colour of the stone.
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Questions
1) Name 4 distinct colours in the pavingstones.
2) Identify which minerals produce your identified colours in Quesion 1.
3) What is the number of the lamppost at the GZ (closest to the station entrance).
4) Take a photo of yourself, your caching name or a personal belonging to prove you have visitied the site without any spoilers.
Granite is an igneous rock, which means it formed from magma, or melted rock. It forms deep inside the Earth under a mountain or volcano when melted rock cools or crystallizes into solid rock. Over time, wind, ice, and water wear away at the mountain or volcano above it, and the granite is exposed to the surface. Granite is used as a building material because it's a hard stone.
The colour of granite is determined by the variety and ratio of minerals within its make-up. This is because minerals absorb different amounts of light wavelengths, which in turn gives each mineral a different colour. So, depending on which minerals are predominant within the rock, the colour and hue of that particular granite will sway towards the colour make-up of those minerals.
The 20-60% quartz is typically milky white or colourless, and the other minerals that are present then add the colouring or hue to it.
Quartz: Milky White or Colourless
Feldspar: Off-White or White
Potassium Feldspar: Light Pink to Red
Biotite: Black or Dark Brown
Black Mica: Black
Muscovite: Light Gold or Light Yellow
Hematite: Red
Sodalite: Blue
Amphibole: Black or Dark Green
Amazonite: Green
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