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Oan th' brae..... EarthCache

Hidden : 10/8/2017
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
4 out of 5

Size: Size:   other (other)

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Geocache Description:



Getting up here involves effort, real effort on both the body and the mind. There are NO paths up here, and it is wild rugged hill country, so you need to come prepared for the worse that the Galloway Hills could throw at you.

I would recommend :

(1) An ability to read a map,  use a compass, and be able to read the ground.

(2) Waterproofs, spare warm clothing, proper hill walking boots, hat and gloves.

(3) Food, there is no cafe up here, you will also need water to drink.

(4) A sense of humour .


Craiglee, lies at the southern end of the Dungeon hills, indeed some may also class it as an outlier of the main body, which includes Craignaw, Dungeon Hill and Mullwarchar. The geology it arises from is the Loch Doon Granite Pluton, which ran from Loch Dee to Loch Doon to the north. The hill is composed of Granodiorite​, which is a medium- to coarse-grained rock, that is one of the most common  intrusive igneous rocks. It contains quartz and is distinguished from granite by its having more plagioclase  feldspar than orthoclase feldspar. The texture of granodiorite is  much like that  of granite, though granodiorite is darker in colour, however, because of its greater plagioclase content.

We are not here to discuss granite or ​granodiorite, as there is plenty of that to see in the Galloway Hills, and by the time that you have got up here, you may have cursed it a bit as well . What I want you to do is to go to the co-ordinates and then look down, though please watch where you are standing, after all, a fall up here would not be nice, and additionally you do not want to step in goat poo, of which there is plenty up here.


So look down, and what do you see?

Lines,  I here you cry, yes you are in the right spot!

Now it is time to get down and actually have a feel and close examination of what you can see.


What you can see  and feel is known as Aplite veins.

Aplite, is an intrusive igneous rock, with a similar composition to granite, but with much finer grains, under 1 mm in diameter. The dominant materials are quartz and feldspar. The term 'aplite' or 'aplitic' is often used as a textural term to describe veins of quartz and feldspar with a fine to medium-grain "sugary" texture. Aplites are usually very fine-grained, white, grey or pinkish, and their constituents are visible only with the help of a magnifying lens.

The aplites of granite areas, are the last part of the magma to crystallize, which has happened rapidly, with the ingredients solidifying almost at the same time.

​This is meant to be a simple EarthCache, after all, you may be up here on a nice day, but it is more likely that it will be wet, cold and windy, so to complete the EarthCache, there are some simple questions and tasks to complete. If you are properly equipped for the hill, then this should be no problem.

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. How many veins of aplite are there here?

2. Please measure each vein, and tell me how thick they are?

3. Using your compass, place it alongside the thickest aplite, what is its magnetic bearing in degrees? If you tell me that you do not have a compass, then you should not be on these hills!

4. Please tell me how does the aplite feel to touch, what colour is it, is it flush with the surrounding rock, how can you distinguish it from the surrounding rock?


 

 

 

 

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