La Valette bathing pools
For more than 150 years, the residents of Guernsey have been able to enjoy La Valette bathing pools on Guernsey’s east coast.
Since 1865, La Valette bathing pools have offered a safe and contained area for salt water swimming, suitable for the whole family!
The water in the pool comes directly from the sea at high tide. The height of the walls allow a certain amount of water to remain in the pool as the tide lowers. The walls also stop an excess of seaweed or sea creatures finding their way into the pools.
In its earlier years, the pools were often visited by many people of great significance, including legendary “Les Misérables” writer Victor Hugo and famous Renaissance painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir.
In 1930, changing rooms were built on-site along with a terrace, which now houses a kiosk, with beautiful views across the sea and Guernsey’s neighbouring islands. The kiosk serves drinks, food and ice creams.
Renovation work was put in place after 2008 due to general wear and tear from constant use by the public in the 1990s and 2000s. The surrounding areas were recently rejuvenated as part of a community project, and today the bathing pools are in great condition.
Please read the information about the stone below, visit the position given and answer the questions.
You will be required to walk down the ramp to the rocks, some of the rocks are visible at high tide but it’s best to attempt this cache at 2 hours or more either side of high tide.
The link below gives tide times for St Peter Port
http://www.tide-forecast.com/locations/Saint-Peter-Port/tides/latest
Under no circumstances should you attempt to swim to the rocks, the tides are very dangerous.
Earth cache information.
At the location given you will find mostly two types of rock, or so it seems, there is a predominantly grey rock and mostly red rock. On closer inspection you will find that though they are different they are in fact also very similar. They have lines and cracks in them that identify them as the same types of rocks, bur with a variance of colours, because they have been subjected to different amounts of weathering.
What you have to do is tell about the similarities and differences.
Here is some help.
Gneiss
Gneiss is a common and widely distributed type of rock formed by high-grade regional metamorphic processes from pre-existing formations that were originally either igneous or sedimentary rocks. The rock can feel smooth since it has been tempered by the heat it has been subjected to Weathering has a slow effect on the surface since this rock is so hard. It is often foliated (composed of layers of sheet-like planar structures), which means it can fracture under weathering, when water percolates and then freezes, leaving deep fissures in the rock. The foliations are characterized by alternating darker and lighter coloured bands, called gneissic banding". Gneiss usually appears to be striped in bands, called gneissic banding. The banding is developed under high temperature and pressure conditions. The minerals are arranged into layers which appear to be bands, when the rock is broken and viewed from the side (in cross section). This is because of a different composition of each layer, or band, called compositional banding.
At this location the difference in colours of the rock could be caused by mad made intervention. During the second world war German forces tunneled into the rock face to create a hospital and some gun emplacements, it is likely that the rocks they excavated were dumped on the beach resulting in two different types of Gness being found at the same place. Your task is to look at these different types of the same rock and speculate as to why they are different. The text below might help
Weathering is the breaking down of material, such as rock, through contact with the Earth's atmosphere, such as waters and biological organisms. This occurs in situ and is not the same as erosion, which is the movement of rocks and minerals by things like water, ice, snow, wind, waves and gravity. Erosion cause the materials to be moved and deposited at other locations. Two different classifications of weathering exist – physical and chemical; both can involve a biological component. Mechanical or physical weathering involves the breakdown of rocks and soils through direct contact with atmospheric conditions, like heat, water, ice and pressure. The other type is chemical weathering This involves the direct effects of chemicals produced by the atmosphere and is known as biological weathering in the breakdown of minerals. While physical weathering is increased in very cold or very dry environments, chemical reactions are most intense where the climate is wet and hot. Both types of weathering however occur together, and each tends to accelerate the other. For example, physical abrasion makes particles smaller particles and therefore increases their surface area, making them more susceptible to rapid chemical reactions.
Both physical and chemical weathering will result in rock changing their appearance and the longer they are exposed to the elements that are causing it the more apparent these changes will be, I am talking about changes in colour and texture of the rocks.
Questions
1) At GZ there are two predominantly coloured of rock, grey and red, what does the stone feel and look like? Describe the similarities and the differences of composition.
2) Why do you think that the stone types are similar but different?
3) What time did you make your observations and what was the state of the tide at that time?
Please upload a photo of yourself or your GPS or something interesting you saw on your visit. (This part is optional)
Did you ever swim at the seawater pools ? (also optional) When?
Please message or email me the answers, do not include them in your log
Thanks for attempting this cache; I hope you enjoyed your visit to the pools today.