Allegany State Park – Geology Meets Landscaping
NOTE … A permit is required to place this cache in Allegany State Park. Call to get the form.
Coordinates … N 42° 05.945 W 078° 44.384
EARTHCACHE REQUIREMENTS
Each cacher must send his/her own answers to log a find. … “Geocachers must complete the tasks before they log the EarthCache as found.” (4.3. EarthCache logging tasks)
Enjoy the journey (learning adventure) as well as the destination (smiley earned). Remember to take only pictures and leave only footprints. To get credit for this Earthcache, complete the following tasks:
NOTE: Answers via message -and- three log signature pictures are required to post a find for this cache.
These landscape boulders are located in the large Bee Hunter Picnic Parking Lot.
1. MESSAGE …. There are dozens of boulders within this parking lot. All rocks are locally sourced found during construction on ASP grounds.
a. Earth Mother’s Internal Paintbrush … Choose a rock and observe all sides. Observe the colors/features that make up Earth Mother’s internal paintbrush. Explain how it/they became part of this rock.
b. Earth Mother’s External Paintbrush … Observe the evidence of weathering that make up Earth Mother’s external paintbrush. Identify the type of weathering and how it has changed this rock.
2. MESSAGE …. There are dozens of boulders within this parking lot. All rocks are locally sourced found during construction on ASP grounds.
a. Earth Mother’s Internal Paintbrush … Choose a rock and observe all sides. Observe the colors/features that make up Earth Mother’s internal paintbrush. Explain how it/they became part of this rock.
b. Earth Mother’s External Paintbrush … Observe the evidence of weathering that make up Earth Mother’s external paintbrush. Identify the type of weathering and how it has changed this rock.
3. MESSAGE …. There are dozens of boulders within this parking lot. All rocks are locally sourced found during construction on ASP grounds.
a. Earth Mother’s Internal Paintbrush … Choose a rock and observe all sides. Observe the colors/features that make up Earth Mother’s internal paintbrush. Explain how it/they became part of this rock.
b. Earth Mother’s External Paintbrush … Observe the evidence of weathering that make up Earth Mother’s external paintbrush. Identify the type of weathering and how it has changed this rock.
4. LOG …. Post pictures of the three rock oddities you found and described in your messages. These pictures are your log signature.
OPTIONAL – Please respect the time and effort involved in finding and creating this earthcache by adding A and B to your log.
A. JOURNEY OF THE MIND … Science explains what we observe. Relate (in your own words) something you found interesting in the reading. This adds to your learning adventure and your log.
B. JOURNEY OF THE HEART … Art shares our personal experience of what we see. Share something special you found on site, and why it is special to you … prose / story / poem / picture. This is a memorable addition to your log and will make other hearts smile.
Journeys of Heart and Mind …
Stories to Touch the Heart and Puzzles to Challenge the Mind / Rainbow Tree Story
THANK YOU Allegany State Park for permission to share this learning adventure.
EARTH MOTHER’S INTERNAL PAINTBRUSH … (within the rocks)
These features are the rock composition due to mineral content and inclusions.
There are a myriad of processes that cause a different type of rock to be embedded within the parent rock. There are also a myriad of processes that cause different colors and markings on the parent rock. These are considered Geological Inclusions or Oddities.
BLEBS and LENSES
BLEBS are small bubble-like inclusions of one mineral within a larger mineral.
LENSES are deposits that are thick in the middle and thin at the edges, resembling a convex lens in cross-section.
CONCRETIONS
A concretion is a hard, compact mass of matter formed by the precipitation of mineral cement within the spaces between particles. They are found in clay strata that was originally mud laid down on the sea floor millions of years ago. Concretions vary in size and shape, but most usually spherical.
CALCIUM CARBONATE DISCS – These concretions aka fairy stones consist of small single or multiple discs often with concentric surface grooves. They can appear as shallow bowl-like depressions formed when calcium carbonate minerals in the rock weathered quicker than the non-calcareous parts of the rock. This process is called differential weathering.
CANNONBALL CONCRETIONS – These concretions are large round concretions resembling cannonballs. They were created by early cementation of sand and silt by calcite.
ELONGATE CONCRETIONS – These concretions form parallel to sedimentary strata due to the flow of groundwater.
HIATUS CONCRETIONS – These concretions are characterized by exhumation, exposure and reburial. They are most commonly found during periods in which calcite sea conditions prevailed, such as the Ordovician, Jurassic and Cretaceous. Fossils are often associated with these formations.
KANSAS POP ROCKS – These concretions are typically associated with thin layers of altered volcanic ash. Shape is generally oblate spheroids with variable sizes. Called “pop rocks” because they explode when thrown in a fire or produce sparks and a burning sulfur smell if cut or hammered.
MOQUI MARBLES – These concretions were created by the precipitation of iron dissolved in groundwater. They are varied in both shape and size.
ROSE ROCKS – These concretions are made of crystals that resemble a rose in bloom. The rock’s petal-shaped clusters is due to the intergrowth of crystals. The mineral comprising the rose was precipitated in interconnected voids in the rock.
FOSSILS
Formed when a plant or animal dies and is buried in mud and silt. Soft tissues quickly decompose leaving the hard bones or shells behind. Over time sediment builds over the top and hardens into rock.
A relatively common occurrence is white calcite replacing the shell.
ORGANICS
Rocks are often covered with lichen and other organics, which sometimes appear like occlusions.
STAINING
IRON – Most sedimentary rocks contain iron in varying degrees. This mineral may appear in patterns or dispersed randomly throughout the parent rock. Color appears in various reddish hues.
MANGANESE – Forms similar to iron staining, but from manganese rich solutions (water) percolating through the sandstone. This mineral may appear in patterns or dispersed randomly throughout the parent rock. Color appears in various blackish hues.
XENOLITHS and PHENOCRYSTS
XENOLITHS are rock fragments of metamorphically altered rock that gets caught in the cooling magma or lava. As the magma cools, the igneous rock forms around the rock fragments.
PHENOCRYSTS are mineral crystals in igneous rock that began growing early in the cooling history of the rock, before the fine-grained groundmass crystallized around them. Or they may have arrived by gravity, either floating to the top or sinking to the bottom of a magma chamber.
EARTH MOTHER’S EXTERNAL PAINTBRUSH … (upon the rocks)
These features are the effects of weathering due to exposure from the environment.
WEATHERING
Weathering is the breaking down of rock into smaller fragments. All rock weathers over time. Grains of sediment fall out. Cracks develop on the surface and deep inside. Weathering causes rocks to fracture, buckle, and crumble into soil and sediment. There are two types of weathering – mechanical and chemical. Water is responsible for eroding/sculpting the rock creating a myriad of formations. Erosion of rock occurs from falling water (waterfalls), meandering water (rivers), and wave action (seas). Glaciers scraping across rock leave glacial striations.
MECHANICAL WEATHERING
Mechanical Weathering breaks apart rocks without changing their chemical composition. Each fragment and particle weathered away by a mechanical process retains the same characteristics as the original rock. Mechanical weathering can be caused by growing plants, expanding ice, lightning, and expansion and contraction with heating and cooling. These physical processes create enough force to break rocks into smaller pieces.
CHEMICAL WEATHERING
Chemical Weathering occurs when water, air, and other substances react with the minerals in rock. In chemical weathering, the composition of the rock changes.
BIOLOGICAL WEATHERING (Mechanical/Chemical)
Living organisms contribute to mechanical weathering through the growth of roots or the burrowing of animals. Tree roots grow into cracks and joints, increasing the surface area for continual weathering by plants, wind, and water. Plants give off organic acids as part of their life and decay processes. These acids help to break down rocks chemically. Decaying remains of dead animals in soil may form organic acids which, when dissolved in water, cause chemical weathering.
VASCULAR PLANTS (larger and grow out from the rocks) – Plant roots and seedlings sprouting in a crevice exert physical pressure as well as providing a pathway for water and chemical infiltration. The evidence that some soil is present is found in the plants which appear to be growing “out” of the rock. In reality, these plants have roots that are growing in soil that is located in the cracks of the rock.
NONVASCULAR PLANTS (smaller and cover surface of rocks) – Lichens and mosses grow on essentially bare rock surfaces and create a more humid chemical microenvironment. The attachment of these organisms to the rock surface enhances physical as well as chemical breakdown of the surface microlayer of the rock.
ANIMALS – Burrowing animals and insects disturb the soil layer adjacent to the bedrock surface thus further increasing water and acid infiltration and exposure to oxidation processes.
ORGANICS – Rocks are often covered with lichen and other organics, which sometimes appear like inclusions.
ADDITIONAL AREAS WITH LANDSCAPE BOULDERS
N 42° 00.672 W 078° 46.041 … Observation Deck
N 42° 05.897′ W 78° 43.458′ … Red House Brook
N 42° 06.075 W 078° 43.700 … Wetlands
RESOURCES … Mainntenance Dept ASP …Embedded Oddities … University Treatise … Embedded Oddities … BSHC – Limestone … Turtle Shell … ASP Rock Water Erosion … Dots and Stripes … Glacier or No Glacier Earthcache
Geology Meets Series
Geology Meets Art … GC8EDWQ
Geology Meets Culture … GC9QCPQ
Geology Meets Education … GCAFVNF
Geology Meets History … GC7NP6P
Geology Meets Landscaping … GCAGP51
ANSWERS … Answers vary. Most of the types of inclusions/oddities and types of weathering can be observed in one or more boulders. There are well over a hundred boulders to choose from. The tasks are designed to give cacher maximum freedom thus reducing difficulty and making the experience more enjoyable.