Absolutely NO night caching. Please cache during weekdays and evenings. Please DO NOT cache on the weekends as events are usually going on. Please only explore the outside of the building.
On This Rock
Limestone Formation
Limestone is a sedimentary rock (formed by the accumulation of sediment) composed primarily of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) in the form of the mineral calcite. It most commonly forms in clear, warm, shallow marine waters. It is usually an organic sedimentary rock that forms from the accumulation of shell, coral, algal, and fecal debris.
Indiana limestone was deposited over millions of years as marine fossils decomposed at the bottom of a shallow inland sea which covered most of the present-day Midwestern United States during the Mississippian Period. Indiana limestone formed in an area that was high in calcite through the breaking up of organic sediment, but low in other types of sediment. For a rock, the Indiana Limestone is chemically pure and consistent, being composed of >97% calcite, making it the highest quality limestone in the world.
Indiana Limestone Location Map
There are several different types of limestone. I will highlight a few:
Chalk: A soft limestone with a very fine texture that is usually white or light gray in color. It is formed mainly from the calcareous shell remains of microscopic marine organisms such as foraminifers, or the calcareous remains from numerous types of marine algae.
Coquina: A poorly-cemented limestone that is composed mainly of broken shell debris. It often forms on beaches where wave action segregates shell fragments of similar size.
Fossiliferous Limestone: A limestone that contains obvious and abundant fossils. These are normally shell and skeletal fossils of the organisms that produced the limestone.
Oolitic Limestone: A limestone composed mainly of calcium carbonate "oolites," small spheres formed by the concentric precipitation of calcium carbonate on a sand grain or shell fragment.
Limestone Fossil
Limestone Use
Limestone is a rock with an enormous diversity of uses. It could be the one rock that is used in more ways than any other. Most limestone is made into crushed stone and used as a construction material. It is used as a crushed stone for road base and railroad ballast. It is used as an aggregate in concrete. It is fired in a kiln with crushed shale to make cement.
Some varieties of limestone perform well in these uses because they are strong, dense rocks with few pore spaces. These properties enable them to stand up well to abrasion and freeze-thaw. Although limestone does not perform as well in these uses as some of the harder silicate rocks, it is much easier to mine and does not exert the same level of wear on mining equipment, crushers, screens, and the beds of the vehicles that transport it. The limestone is soft and easily worked when quarried, but once the quarried rock dries it becomes case-hardened, that is, its surface becomes harder and more resistant to weathering. Indiana Limestone is a freestone, which means that it has no preferential direction of splitting. It can be planed, turned on a lathe, sawed, and hand worked, making it highly versatile.
The combination of these physical and chemical characteristics make the Indiana Limestone well-suited to building because:
- It is more durable than a typical limestone
- It can be cut into very large blocks
- It can hold fine detail when carved
St. Sava
The principal materials of St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Church are Indiana Limestone from Bedford, American-made steel manufactured in Lake County, Indiana, and Appalachian oak wood throughout.
Walk around the church building and note the use of Indiana limestone.
In order to log this Earthcache...
Please read the following questions and send me your answers.
- Of the four types of limestone listed, which type was used? How can you tell?
- Why do you think limestone was used on this building instead of marble or some other type of building material?
- Did you see any small fossils or fossil fragments in the limestone?
- Post a picture of you with your favorite mosaic or another part of St. Sava Church
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