"Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every 'superstar,' every 'supreme leader,' every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam."
― Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space
An EarthCache is a special geological location people can visit to learn about a unique feature of the Earth. EarthCache pages include a set of educational notes along with coordinates. Visitors to EarthCaches can see how our planet has been shaped by geological processes, how we manage its resources and how scientists gather evidence.
― from Groundspeak's EarthCache definition
To solve this puzzle, first determine the values for A...L
The cache can be found at: N 34° αβ.γδε W 118° ζη.θικ
Where:
α = H - D
β = K - L
γ = B + I
δ = J - K
ε = H + I
ζ = K - B
η = C + D
θ = J - C
ι = A + G
κ = E + F
Glaciers moved across the landmass, picking up rocks as they traveled, then sheared off at the coast and formed numerous icebergs. As these icebergs drifted over the sea they melted dropping their encased rocks into the mud on the sea floor. These rocks are called __________.
- erratics (A = 3)
- moraines (A = 1)
- xenoliths (A = 4)
- drop stones (A = 7)
The basalt from which these prismatic patterns were formed was produced __________ years ago.
- 300 to 200 million (B = 9)
- 65 to 25 million (B = 4)
- 10 to 5 million (B = 6)
- 500 thousand to 400 thousand (B = 5)
__________ was used to build the oldest parts of the cathedral from 1248 to 1560.
- Trachyte (C = 3)
- Sandstone (C = 5)
- Limestone (C = 8)
- Basalt (C = 9)
Ichnofossils are __________.
- fossils of fish skeletons (D = 7)
- microscopic remains of life such as bacteria (D = 9)
- preserved tracks or other signs of the behaviour of animals (D = 3)
- fossils containing remnants of DNA (D = 2)
The Namib Desert is believed to be the world’s oldest desert and it has been arid for at least __________ years.
- 200 million (E = 0)
- 55 million (E = 2)
- 3 million (E = 4)
- 20 thousand (E = 6)
Nearly __________ of water per minute pour from the springs here into the Firehole River nearby, due to the heat from an active volcano beneath them.
- 10,000 gallons (F = 4)
- 1,500 gallons (F = 6)
- 500 gallons (F = 2)
- 75 gallons (F = 3)
All the CO2 that is produced by burning 1 litre of oil can be sequestered by __________ of olivine.
- 10 litres (G = 3)
- 3 litres (G = 8)
- less than 1 litre (G = 2)
- 150 millilitres (G = 7)
A roche moutonnee is __________.
- a different rock than the surrounding rock that it is deposited on (H = 9)
- a wavy smooth channel ground into the bedrock by fast flowing water (H = 5)
- formed by a slight bouncing of a larger rock against the bedrock (H = 0)
- an asymmetrical hill that has a gently sloped smooth side and a steep rough side (H = 4)
Lake Baikal contains a total of roughly __________ of the world's surface fresh water.
- 35 percent (I = 8)
- 20 percent (I = 4)
- 10 percent (I = 1)
- 5 percent (I = 9)
When they first lit the gas crater on fire, they thought the fire would go out after a few days. As of the time of the publication of this EarthCache in 2010, it had been burning for __________.
- 10 months (J = 7)
- 4 years (J = 1)
- 15 years (J = 6)
- 38 years (J = 9)
An overhanging rock ledge is typically caused by __________.
- a normal dip-slip fault (K = 3)
- a reverse dip-slip fault (K = 9)
- a transform (strike-slip) fault (K = 7)
- a combination of faults (K = 5)
The canyon’s mile-high walls display a largely undisturbed cross section of the earth’s crust extending back some __________ years.
- 65 million (L = 1)
- 500 million (L = 0)
- 1 billion (L = 5)
- 2 billion (L = 8)
You can validate your puzzle solution with certitude.
This EarthCache puzzle cache is dedicated to TerryDad2, a prolific creator of high-quality EarthCaches and a wonderful teacher of geology.