Slave Rock EarthCache
toadfrommars: Time for this to fly! Neat, historic spot for sure
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DO NOT STOP ON HIGHWAY!!!!!!!!!
DO NOT GO BELOW THE MINIMUM SPEED LIMIT OF 40 MPH! Doing so could put you and others in grave danger.
This Earthcache must be done with at least two people, one driving and one observing the rock and the GPSr.
Although it may be possible to do this while traveling westbound, it is MUCH easier to see it going Eastbound, in between the Westbound and Eastbound traffic.
Slave Rock is an outcropping of St. Peter Sandstone that just happens to be in between the East and Westbound lanes of Interstate 70.
What makes this an interesting geologic feature is the fact that, under normal circumstances, The St. Peter Sandstone is under at least four distinct layers of rock(with many sub layers in these layers). The cause of this outcropping is twofold: an anticline known as the Mineola Structure here and the Loutre Creek valley, which took advantage of the cracks that the anticline produced, eroding the cracked and fractured rock quicker than normal, which led to the exposure of older rock, such as the St. Peter Sandstone.
An anticline is a folded arch in which the oldest rocks are in the center, in this case the Jefferson City Dolomite, which have no outcrops in this area other than those in the creek itself. When the rock pushed upward, cracks formed in the rock, which gave a convenient place for a creek to form(the Loutre Creek).
St. Peter Sandstone does expose itself in other areas, nearby Graham Cave is made of the St. Peter Sandstone, as well as Klondike Quarry near the Missouri River on Higheay 94, but none are as easily visible to the casual tourist as Slave Rock is.
What's in a name? Sometime in a different era, slaves were auctioned off periodically at this very rock. The Graham family also held picnics on this rock, before the interstate was here of course. Much of the information involved in this Earthcache was taken from the book "Geologic Wonders and Curiosities of Missouri" and "Roadside Geology of Missouri"
To complete this Earthcache, get ready with your gps a mile or two before getting to ground zero, and while passing the rock(which will be on the left, between the eastbound and westbound lanes of traffic) answer these three questions:
1)What color is the rock?
2)In what direction is the rock fractured?(Vertically or horizontally)
3)What is the elevation of the rock?
Email me the answers of these three questions, you may log a find right away, i will contact you if there is a problem.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)