Scarlett Point Earthcache EarthCache

The walk in from the car park to the coordinates is dominated by carboniferous limestone which was laid down between 363 and 325 million years ago and was formed from the carbonate mud on the bottom of warm, shallow tropical seas. The tropical seas that formed the limestone were teaming with life and this is evidenced by the many fossils that have been found in the area. A distinctive feature of this type of limestone is its layered appearance which is well displayed at the Earthcache coordinates.

Just beyond the Earthcache location the geology changes abruptly from the flat Carboniferous limestone to a largely basalt makeup deposited by early tertiary volcanism between 65.5 and 1.8 million years ago.

To log the cache you need to examine the dyke which stretches from the coordinates to the ocean. This dyke was formed when volcanic activity forced dolerite through a seam in the rock baking the limestone. The question for you to answer to log the cache is whether the baked limestone became harder and resisted erosion, or softer and has eroded faster than the surrounding limestone?

Please send your answer in a separate message (not your log). Also please include all geocaching logins you are answering for if you want to answer for more than one logger

Sources
Manx Wildlife Trust, Information signage at Scarlett Visitor Centre.
Bridges, Edwin Michael (1990), World Geomorphology. Cambridge University Press
Evans, Aileen (2007), Isle of Man Coastal Path: Raad Ny Foillan (2nd ed.). Cicerone
Wikipedia (2007), Basalt, accessed 30 April 2008, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basalt.
Wikipedia (2007), Carboniferous Limestone, accessed 30 April 2008, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carboniferous_limestone.