Leshan Giant Buddha - GE8 EarthCache
Leshan Giant Buddha - GE8
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This earthcache brings you to the Leshan Giant Buddha – the place on the World Heritage List due to famous statue of Buddha and at the same time very interesting geological area.
The Leshan Giant Buddha was built during the Tang Dynasty (618–907AD). It is carved out of a cliff face that lies at the confluence of the Minjiang, Dadu and Qingyi rivers. Construction was started in 713, led by a Chinese monk named Haithong. He hoped that the Buddha would calm the turbulent waters that plagued the shipping vessels traveling down the river. When funding for the project was threatened, he is said to have gouged out his own eyes to show his piety and sincerity. After his death, however, the construction was stuck due to insufficient funding. About 70 years later, a jiedushi decided to sponsor the project and the construction was completed by Haitong's disciples in 803. Apparently the massive construction resulted in so much stone being removed from the cliff face and deposited into the river below that the currents were indeed altered by the statue, making the waters safe for passing ships.
Sitting Buddha is 71 meters high. Head is 14.7 meters length, shoulder width is 24 meters, ears are 7 meters long. Statue was cleverly designed, with hidden drainage system to prevent the erosion and weathering of statue. Anyway the statue suffered from the natural wind and rain, so in 1962, the Chinese government allocated special funds for comprehensive maintenance of the statue. 
The 80m high cliff (in which Buddha is built) is made from early Triassic sandstones. In Triass this area was part of the sea. The sea withdrew from this area about 180Milion year ago and rivers start to dig into the soft rock, making high cliffs. On the cliff you can see a lot of horizontal layers with different colors of rock, lot of holes and caves.
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains. Most sandstones are composed of quartz 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, red, yellow, grey and white. Sandstone beds often form highly visible cliffs and other topographic features.
Sandstones 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.
The formation of sandstone involves in two stages:
- a layer or layers of sand accumulates as the result of sedimentation, either from water or from air.
- 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.
Sandstone was a popular building material from ancient times. It is relatively soft, making it easy to carve. It has been widely used around the world in constructing temples, cathedrals, homes and other buildings. It has also been used for artistic purposes to create statues.
To claim this earthcache you have to descend the cliff to Buddha’s foot. It is a short trail, but you can wait about two hours to get there – the place is really overcrowded. This is reason for higher difficulty of this cache.
Go in front of Buddha and look at the cliff on the left side. You will have to answer me some questions about the cliff and send it to me via email before logging the cache.
1) Tell me the name and the type of rock you see.
On the cliff you can see several thick white layers.
2) How many white layers you can see?
3) How height is the first one from the bottom?
4) How thick is it?
5) Estimate the inclination of this layer.
6) How is it possible that the layers are different than the other rock?
Picture of you with Buddha would be nice.
乐山大佛建于唐代（618 - 907AD）。这是刻出来的岷江，大渡河和青衣江河流的汇合处在于悬崖面对。开工建设713名为Haithong一个中国的和尚领导。他希望佛会平静的困扰航运船只行驶顺流而下的湍流水域。资金项目受到威胁时，他说已经挖出自己的眼睛，显示他的虔诚和诚意。然而，在他去世后，被卡住建设由于资金不足。大约70年以后，节度使决定赞助的项目和建设是由海通证券的弟子在803完成。显然，庞大的建设造成了这么多的石头从崖面中删除，并存入下面的河水，确实改变电流的雕像，使水域过往船只的安全。
坐像高71米。头长14.7米，肩宽24米，耳长7米。雕像被巧妙地设计，采用隐藏式的排水系统，以防止侵蚀和风化的雕像。但无论如何，雕像遭受自然风和雨，所以在1962年，中国政府拨出专项资金，全面维修的雕像。
80米高的悬崖（其中佛建）是由早三叠世砂岩。在Triass这个领域是海的一部分。海退出这个面积约180Milion年前和河流开始挖软岩，高的悬崖。在悬崖上，你可以看到很多水平层与不同颜色的岩石，很多洞和洞穴。 砂岩是一种沉积岩，主要由砂粒大小的矿物或岩石颗粒。大多数砂岩石英或长石组成，因为这些都是在地壳中最常见的矿物质。像砂，砂岩可能是任何颜色，但最常见的颜色是棕褐色，棕色，红色，黄色，灰色和白色。砂岩床往往形成非常明显的峭壁和其他地形特征。 砂岩凝成的谷物，可以是一个预先存在的岩石碎片或单minerallic晶体的形成。这些谷物绑定在一起的水泥通常是方解石，粘土，和二氧化硅。砂中的晶粒尺寸定义（地质学）0.0625毫米至2毫米的范围内。 砂岩的形成包括两个阶段： - 层或砂层积累沉淀的结果，无论是从水或空气。
- 一旦积累，沙成为砂岩时，覆存款的压力和压实的矿物质沙粒之间的孔隙空间内的降水凝成。
砂岩是一种从远古时代流行的建材。它是相对较软，因此很容易雕刻。它已被广泛应用于世界各地兴建寺庙，教堂，住宅和其他建筑物。它也被用于创建雕像的艺术目的。
声称这你有下降的悬崖佛陀的脚。这是一个短期的线索，但到那里，你可以等待两小时左右 - 的地方实在是人满为患。这是这个缓存的难度较高的原因。
在佛陀面前，并期待在左侧的悬崖。你会回答我有关悬崖上的一些问题，并通过电子邮件发送我之前记录缓存。
1）告诉我的名字和你所看到的岩石类型。 在悬崖上，你可以看到几个白厚层。
2）白层，你可以看到多少？
3）如何高度是从底部的第一个？
4）有多厚？
5）估计这层的倾向。
6）怎么可能比其他岩石不同层？
你与佛的图片将是很好的。
由谷歌翻译
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)