EARTH MOTHER’S PAINTBRUSH
NOTE … The Reviewer Notes detail why this cache did not pass review so was not published.
BLOG … Seneca Nation of Native Americans
STAINED GLASS CLANS at SENECA CASINO in SALAMANCA NY
“Clan Rocks” with descriptions of the clans are hidden throughout the Holiday Valley Resort. At each location there is a geocache -and- earthcache questions to answer. All clan rocks are locally sourced rocks found during construction on Resort grounds.
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- log signature picture are required to post a find for this cache.
NOTE: Even though the rocks have similar internal/external features, select something different for each rock observed.
Deer Clan members are the messengers.
1a. MESSAGE / Deer Clan …. Observe the colors/features that make up Earth Mother’s internal paintbrush. Select one and explain how it became part of this rock.
1b. MESSAGE / Deer Clan …. 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.
Snipe Clan members are the guides to living in harmony with the environment.
2a. MESSAGE / Snipe Clan …. Observe the colors/features that make up Earth Mother’s internal paintbrush. Select one and explain how it became part of this rock.
2b. MESSAGE / Snipe Clan …. 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.
Turtle Clan members are the protectors of the environment.
3a. MESSAGE / Turtle Clan …. Observe the colors/features that make up Earth Mother’s internal paintbrush. Select one and explain how it became part of this rock.
3b. MESSAGE / Turtle Clan …. 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.
Bear Clan members are the healers.
4a. MESSAGE / Bear Clan …. Observe the colors/features that make up Earth Mother’s internal paintbrush. Select one and explain how it became part of this rock.
4b. MESSAGE / Bear Clan …. 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.
Hawk Clan members are the overseers.
5a. MESSAGE / Hawk Clan …. Observe the colors/features that make up Earth Mother’s internal paintbrush. Select one and explain how it became part of this rock.
5b. MESSAGE / Hawk Clan …. 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.
Beaver Clan members are the builders.
6a. MESSAGE / Beaver Clan …. Observe the colors/features that make up Earth Mother’s internal paintbrush. Select one and explain how it became part of this rock.
6b. MESSAGE / Beaver Clan …. 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.
Wolf Clan members are the path finders.
7a. MESSAGE / Wolf Clan …. Observe the colors/features that make up Earth Mother’s internal paintbrush. Select one and explain how it became part of this rock.
7b. MESSAGE / Wolf Clan …. 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.
Heron Clan members are the teachers of patience.
8a. MESSAGE / Heron Clan …. Observe the colors/features that make up Earth Mother’s internal paintbrush. Select one and explain how it became part of this rock.
8b. MESSAGE / Heron Clan …. 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.
LOG … Post a picture of you or your signature item at one of the clan rocks including the information sign. Explain why you chose this clan rock. The picture and explanation is 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.
THANK YOU Holiday Valley for placing the rocks and giving permission to share this learning adventure.
THANK YOU Nanette for a nice chat sharing your Native wisdom.
EARTH MOTHER’S INTERNAL PAINTBRUSH … (within the rocks)
These features are the rock composition due to mineral content and inclusions.
Conglomerate, Limestone, Sandstone, and Shale are the rocks found in this region.
CONGLOMERATE (Pieces of other rocks)
What Does It Look Like? Conglomerate looks like a mixture of sand and different sizes of rounded pebbles. The pebbles are the important observation.
What Minerals Make Up the Rock? mostly quartz
How Was It Formed? Sand and pebbles collect along sea shores, lake shores, or river banks. They are compacted by the weight of sediments that collect above them and cemented by material dissolved in the water that seeps through them.
LIMESTONE (Biochemical origin)
What Does It Look Like? Limestone is usually white, gray, tan, or yellow. It may contain impurities to make it red or black. Fossils are often found in limestone. It may be very smooth or even sugary, fine grained, or medium grained. The powdered rock will usually fizz in white vinegar. Unlike marble, limestone is not composed of visible crystals.
What Minerals Make Up the Rock? mostly calcite
How Was It Formed? Most limestone is formed by a chemical reaction in sea water. The reaction makes a lime mud which sinks to the bottom to for the limestone. Some limestones are formed from buried coral reefs.
SANDSTONE (Cemented sand)
What Does It Look Like? Sandstone is often red to brown, light gray to nearly white. Sometimes it is yellow or green. It usually is composed of rounded grains that are all of the same size; and it is usually medium grained. Some sandstones show slight color variations in layering.
What Minerals Make Up the Rock? Quartz; Sometimes contains: feldspars, mica, glauconite (in green colored sandstone), magnetite, garnet, rutile, ilmenite. FEELS GRITTY.
How Was It Formed? Quartz sand that is produced by the weathering of other rocks (such as granite, gneiss, and other sandstones) is deposited by rivers, waves, or wind. The sediment may have been a sand bar, an ocean beach, or desert sand dunes. The sand is buried under other sediments, compacted by the weight of those sediments, and cemented by material dissolved in water that seeps through it.
SHALE (Compacted mud)
What Does It Look Like? Shale may be black, gray, red, brown, dark green, or blue. It is fine grained, so particles usually can not be seen. When moistened, shale usually smells like wet mud.
BLACK – lots of organics / GRAY – low organics / RED – fully oxidized iron / GREEN – partially reduced iron / MCCREADY – salt and gypsum
What Minerals Make Up the Rock? Clay minerals; Sometimes with some quartz sand, pyrite, gypsum
How Was It Formed? Clay sediments settle in quiet lakes, lagoons, bays, or off-shore areas. When buried and compacted the clays become shale. Iron oxides often help to cement the particles together.
GEOLOGICAL INCLUSIONS
There are a myriad of processes that cause a different type of rock to be embedded within the parent rock.
BLEBS and LENSES – See BSHC – Limestone
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 – See Turtle Shell
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.
One of the pics shows a cross-section of a rose-shaped concretion.
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.
One of the pics shows “a cross-section through a brachiopod shell, the zig-zag pattern is the shell, and the off-white streak is a calcite deposit inside the shell.”
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 – See Dots and Stripes
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.
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.
WATER SCULPTURE – See ASP Rock Water Erosion
Water is responsible for eroding the rock creating a myriad of formations. Erosion of rock occurs from falling water (waterfalls), meandering water (rivers), and wave action (seas).
One of the pics shows … “The thin, long, linear features, in positive relief, are flute marks/scour marks/. Water currents have carried pebbles and/or sticks along the muddy bed, and made those scours. A second (younger) layer of sediment was deposited and filled the scours, creating a mold of them, thus they have positive relief. Now you are looking at the underside of the younger layer.”
RESOURCES
Clan Stories – https://snpolytechnic.com/sites/default/files/docs/resource/clanstories.pdf
Links for inclusions and water sculpture
Embedded Oddities – https://coord.info/GC6QD3Y
Geology Meets Culture – https://coord.info/GC9QCPQ
ANF Detective Series -and- ANF Rock Sculpture Series
PERMISSION
Permission was given for placement of the 8 geocaches. The earthcache waypoints are at the same coordinates so permission was already given.
ANSWERS
Answers widely vary. All reasonable answers are acceptable. The following are some examples of answers …
INTERNAL PAINTBRUSH
sandstone / feels gritty / conglomerate / small white pebbles / whitish streaks / whitish circles / pinkish streaks / black shiny specs / small fossil / reddish staining / etc. explanation includes something about minerals being present in the formation of the rock
EXTERNAL PAINTBRUSH
all the types of weathering were observable varying from a few types per rock to several types per rock
REVEWER NOTES
Thank you for your EarthCache submission. A few adjustments are required to bring the EarthCache into compliance with the EarthCache guidelines posted at http://www.geosociety.org/GSA/fieldexp/EarthCache/guidelines/home.aspx. Additional information may be found in the Groundspeak Knowledge Books at https://www.geocaching.com/help/index.php?pg=kb.chapter&id=51.
- Please provide local context (in terms of local geological history) for the generic descriptions of the types of rocks, other definitions, and weathering mechanisms. One way to do this could be to provide local context (assuming the stones are locally sourced) for each of the clan rocks. Does each clan actually associate with a type of rock or were the stones chosen by the resort?
- Please confirm the resort is accessible by casual visitors. You provided a statement of permission, but no access information.
- The fact that “Answers widely vary,” may indicate the logging tasks need to be tightened up so you receive the answers you seek. This will move toward creating an EarthCache with a specific local Earth Science lesson with targeted logging tasks that include specific observations being sought to indicate the lesson was learned.