Stone Stripes EarthCache
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Park on the east side of the road in the small pullout. From here you can easily see the geological'stone stripes' on the hills to the east.
Look across the river to the east where you can see features known as ‘stone stripes’ marking the slopes. These features, dark stripes or rivers of basalt, extend from the tops of hills down to where they appear to have been cut and obliterated by the wave-cut Lake Lahontan terraces (the stripes extend down to the shoreline features, white lake sediments are exposed at the base of the hills).These rock rivers, which cascade straight down the mountain slopes are properly called ‘stone stripes’. Geometrically regular stripes of stone such as these are today found on many unvegetated alpine and polar hill slopes around the world. These so-called stone stripes are thought to be the result of the freeze-thaw cycle active in cold climates. During freezing, ice slightly heaves loose rocks upward. During thawing, soil settles in, around, and under stone edges, effectively moving stone up. The exact mechanism of the process remains somewhat of a mystery, but over time, the stones roll together and form long stripes running down the slopes. Under arid and warmer climatic conditions, such features do not develop. These stone stripes seen around Pyramid Lake are thought to be the relics of the last glacial episode which ended 10,000 years ago. The stripes formed during a time of maximum expansion of the glaciers, predating the maximum expansion of Lake Lahontan. Evidence of this time relationship is clearly seen on the slopes of the Truckee River canyon east of the Pyramid Lake War historical monument where shoreline features formed during the highstands of the lake cut and obliterate the older stone stripes. (Information taken from Geological and Natural History Tours in the Reno Area. Expanded Edition. Special Publication 19 by the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology 2005.
To get credit for this cache, answer the following question.
On which part of the hills do the concentration of stone stripes seem most apparant? On the ridges running down the hills, on the flat parts running down the hills, or in the valleys running down the hills?
Additional Hints
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