Stop by the Kyle Chamber, N 29° 59.331’, W 97° 52.716’, to pick up your GeoTour Passport. We are open M-F 8am-5pm. You can also download a copy of the passport and print it out yourself. The first 250 people who achieve 25 points are eligible to receive a trackable GeoCoin.
Thank you to razorbackgirl for your help with this GeoTour!
This earthcache aims to educate about the various rock types used for headstones. If you have ever visited a cemetery you will know that some stones weather better than others, while some are almost so weathered you can’t see the carvings and art. You will need to visit each Waypoint and answer the questions there.
Please be respectful of those who are buried here and please only visit this Earthcache during daylight hours.
The Mohs scale of mineral hardness is a qualitative scale which characterizes the scratch resistance of various minerals through the ability of a harder material to scratch a softer material. Please DO NOT scratch any of the headstones. Just touch and feel.
Mohs Hardness Scale
Scale Number - Mineral Name
- 10 Diamond
- 9 Corundum
- 8 Topaz
- 7 Quartz
- 6 Orthoclase
- 5 Apatite
- 4 Fluorite
- 3 Calcite
- 2 Gypsum
- 1 Talc
Waypoint #1 Sandstone– Major Edward Burleson, to the right of his children, is a veteran of the Mexican War & Civil War. He married Lucy Emma Kyle, the daughter of Claiborne Kyle. 7 of his 10 children survived infancy. The letter for the passport is the first letter of Maj Burleson's birth month.
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock that is formed from the deposition of sediment on beaches, sand dunes and stream valleys. It is made up of relatively coarse particles which are easy to see. Sandstone will have a gritty feel. Its main minerals are quartz, feldspars and muscovite. It can erode easily depending on the mineral composition of the “cement” which holds the grains of sand together. Individual grains can be quite resistant to weathering, especially if they are mostly quartz. However, sandstone as a whole is affected by chemical and physical weathering. It has a Moh’s Hardness scale number between 6 and 7.
Look at the children's headstones.
- How do the stones feel?
- Do you notice any weathering?
- Can you discern the names in the stone on the west side? If so, what do you see?
Waypoint #2 – Marble - Ezekiel Nance, founder of The Blanco Community and prominent businessman. Over the year, on his 10,000-acre ranch on the Blanco River, he built a cotton gin, grist mill, a masonry structure housing the school and church, a cotton textile mill, a flour mill, a sawmill, a shingle mill, a beef packing house. His business empire was destroyed on three occasions by raging Blanco River floods. All of his business endeavors were designed to meet a need of the farming community, only ceasing when the railroad came to town.
Marble is a metamorphic rock that is formed from metamorphosed limestone. The heat and pressure of metamorphosis has resulted in the recrystallization of calcite and other carbonates in the parent limestone. It is fine grained and white, but it is often colored with impurities. Its main minerals are calcite and dolomite. Marble is slower to weather than limestone because the heat and pressure have hardened the stone. However, it is still a softer stone. It has a Moh’s Hardness number of 3.
- How does the stone feel?
- Do you notice any weathering?
Waypoint #3 – Granite - Colonel William Walton Haupt, responsible for the naming of Mountain City. He built and ran the first steam cotton gin on his 3,000-acre farm in 1857 and was well known for his “Haupt” goats. In 1895, his time went to plant breeding, originating the Haupt berry, Alice Haupt peach, and a hybrid plum.
Granite is an igneous rock type formed by the slow cooling of silica rich magma deep within the Earth. Granite is completely crystallized with large, well-formed interlocking crystals that are easily visible. It is usually fairly light in color, with it usually being white, gray or pink. Its main minerals are feldspar, quartz and mica. Granite is considered a durable stone for headstones and is what is used most in modern times. It has a Moh’s scale number between 6 and 7.
- How does the stone feel?
- Do you notice any weathering?
- What color is the granite here?
- Why do you think that Sandstone and Granite, which rate similarly on the Mohs hardness scale, have such different rates of weathering?
To log this Earthcache, Please send me an email/message with the GC code and name of this EC, plus the answers to each Waypoint question. No Armchair caching, you must visit the site. You may go ahead and log after sending me the email. Please DO NOT post the answers in your log. Thank you for visiting!