Crovie's Conglomerate Cliff EarthCache
Crovie's Conglomerate Cliff
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(other)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
Easiest approach is from New Ground, Gardenstown where there is plenty of parking at N57.40.453 W002.19.994 ~ if there is an extreme high tide ( or you fancy a longer walk) parking is available at Crovie N57.40.694 W002.19.385 and you can walk along the path and approach from the Crovie end. Tide times can be found at - http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/coast_and_sea/tide_tables/7/247#tide-details A short walk across the beach from New Ground towards Crovie you will be noticing that the cliffs and the rocks on the beach are a "bit different" to the red sandstone cliffs and rocks found at Gamrie Bay beach the other end of Gardenstown village. Following the path up a series of steps and around "The Sneuk", you will come up close to the cliff face and notice that it it made up of thousands of pebbles held together by a matrix. This is conglomerate rock. So what exactly is conglomerate and how is it formed ? Conglomerate is a clastic sedimentary rock,containing large ( greater then 2mm in diameter) rounded clasts of any rock material, The space between the clasts is generally made up with smaller particles, a mixture of sand, mud and a chemical cement that binds everything together. Conglomerate is formed in water, either a swiftly flowing stream or a beach with strong waves ~ the rounded shape of the clasts show that they have been tumbled smooth by moving water. A sediment consisting mainly of pebble and cobble sized clasts is deposited first with the finer sand and clay deposited later on top, this then sifts down inbetween to fill the spaces, finally a chemical cement (generally calcite,silica or iron oxide) is deposited and binds the whole lot together into rock. Conglomerates are divided into 2 types. Clast supported ~ where the clasts touch one another or Matrix supported ~ where the matrix supports each clast. As you follow the path around towards Crovie observe the rock face, you should see several different types of clasts and the different layers. To claim this earth cache, email me via my profile ( please do not post in your online log) the answers to the following tasks : 1) Describe the clasts, shape/colour. Can you name any of the specific clasts ? 2) What type of conglomerate do you think this is and why do you think this? 3) How high do you think the conglomerate cliffs are between Gardenstown and Crovie ? 4) Nearer Crovie you will see the red sandstone stripes, at what angle and in what direction do they dip down ? Optional task to post a photo of yourself and/or GPS somewhere on the beach here with the cliffs in the background. You must carry out these educational tasks as required by the Earthcaching organisation as a condition of logging the cache.Please send your answers before logging as found, no need to wait for a reply. Logs that do not adhere to these guidelines will be deleted without notification. See www.earthcache.org Please be aware that the path around the sneuk can be icy in winter and there can at times be rock falls.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)