The President
James Abram Garfield (November 19, 1831 – September 19,
1881)
was the 20th President of the United States. His death, two
months
after being shot and six months after his inauguration, made
his
tenure, at 199 days, the second shortest (after William Henry
Harrison) in United States history.
Before his election as president, Garfield served as a major
general in the United States Army and as a member of the U.S.
House
of Representatives, and as a member of the Electoral Commission
of
1876. Garfield was the second U.S. President to be
assassinated;
Abraham Lincoln was the first. President Garfield, a
Republican,
had been in office for four months when he was shot and
fatally
wounded on July 2, 1881. He lived until September 19, having
served
for six months and fifteen days. To date, Garfield is the
only
sitting member of the House of Representatives to have been
elected
President.
Following Garfield’s death , a committee was formed for
the
purpose of building a permanent monument for the president.
The
building is considered to be the country’s first true
mausoleum. It serves as a crypt and a memorial for Garfield and
his
family. The exterior of the monument is large and made of
Berea
Sandstone. It contains a sandstone terrace, five bas relief
panels
depicting Garfield’s life.
Geology
The Berea Sandstone that was used for the Garfield Monument
was
excavated by The Cleveland Stone Company in the 1880’s.
Sandstone (sometimes known as arenite) is a sedimentary rock
composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains. Most
sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these
are
the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand,
sandstone
may be any color, but the most common colors are tan, brown,
yellow, red, gray and white. Since sandstone beds often form
highly
visible cliffs and other topographic features, certain colors
of
sandstone have been strongly identified with certain regions.
Some
sandstones are resistant to weathering, yet are easy to work.
This
makes sandstone a common building and paving material.
Sandstones are clastic in origin (as opposed to either
organic,
like chalk and coal, or chemical, like gypsum and jasper).
They
are formed from cemented grains that may either be fragments of
a
pre-existing rock or be mono-minerallic crystals. The cements
binding these grains together are typically calcite, clays
and
silica. Grain sizes in sands are defined (in geology) within
the
range of 0.0625 mm to 2 mm (0.002-0.079 inches).
The formation of sandstone involves two principal stages. First,
a
layer or layers of sand accumulates as the result of
sedimentation,
either from water (as in a river, lake, or sea) or from air (as
in
a desert). Typically, sedimentation occurs by the sand settling
out
from suspension; i.e., ceasing to be rolled or bounced along
the
bottom of a body of water (e.g., seas or rivers) or ground
surface
(e.g., in a desert or erg). Finally, once it has accumulated,
the
sand becomes sandstone when it is compacted by pressure of
overlying deposits and cemented by the precipitation of
minerals
within the pore spaces between sand grains.
The most common cementing materials are silica and calcium
carbonate, which are often derived either from dissolution or
from
alteration of the sand after it was buried. Colors will usually
be
tan or yellow (from a blend of the clear quartz with the dark
amber
feldspar content of the sand). A predominant additional colorant
in
the southwestern United States is iron oxide, which imparts
reddish
tints ranging from pink to dark red (terracotta), with
additional
manganese imparting a purplish hue. Red sandstones are also seen
in
the Southwest and West of England and Wales, as well as
central
Europe and Mongolia. The regularity of the latter favors use as
a
source for masonry, either as a primary building material or as
a
facing stone, over other construction.
Physical Properties Of Sandstone
•Color- Different varieties of colors are available like
red,
yellow, white, pink, gray and many more.
•Hardness- On moh's scale its density lies between 6 and
7.
•Comprehensive strength- It is usually between 360 to
465
kg/m2u
•Porosity- Usually porosity is very low.
•Density- 2.30 to 2.41 kg/m3
•Water absorption- The water absorbing capacity is up to
1%
only.
Chemical Properties Of Sandstone
The chemical constituent of sandstone is same as sand. It is
mainly
made of quartz. The cementing constituent that binds it together
is
usually silica, calcium carbonate, and iron oxide. Sandstones
are
vastly resistant to alkali, acids, and heat.
Constituent of sandstone by percentage :
Silica (SiO2): 91% to 93%
Alumina (Al2O3): 1.3% to 1.45%Iron oxide (Fe2O3): 1.4% to 1.55%Soda
and potash (NaO & KO2): 1.0 % to 1.2%Lime(CaO): 0.7% to
0.9%Magnesia(MgO): 0.22% to 0.25%
Tasks to log this Earthcache please complete these tasks at
the
following waypoints below.
As an optional task please upload a photo of yourself in front
of
the monument with gps in hand.
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