BREAKS INTERSTATE PARK
AWESOME ROADCUT - THE LAYERS
EARTHCACHE REQUIREMENTS
Each cacher must send his/her own answers BEFORE logging a find. ... "Geocachers must complete the tasks before they log the EarthCache as found." (4.3. EarthCache logging tasks)
Enjoy the journey (learning adventure) as well as the destination (smiley earned). Remember to take only pictures and leave only footprints. To get credit for this Earthcache, complete the following tasks:
1. MESSAGE …. At the posted coords, describe the rock layers (type/color/thickness) from bottom to top.
2. MESSAGE …. Walk along the roadcut to view this rock gallery. Sequence the pictures beginning at the posted coordinates and travelling WEST. Beware, there is one feature that is located across the road.
NOTE... There is a large pulloff to safely park at the posted coordinates. There is a large shoulder to safely walk along the roadcut.
3. LOG …. Post a picture of you or your signature item anywhere along the roadcut showing another unusual feature. This picture is your log signature.
OPTIONAL - Please respect the time and effort involved in creating this earthcache by adding A and B to your log.
A. JOURNEY OF THE MIND ... Science explains what we observe. Relate (in your own words) something you found interesting in the reading. This adds to your learning adventure and your log.
B. JOURNEY OF THE HEART ... Art shares our personal experience of what we see. Share something special you found on site, and why it is special to you. This is a memorable addition to your log and will make other hearts smile.
Journeys of Heart and Mind ...
Stories to Touch the Heart and Puzzles to Challenge the Mind / Rainbow Tree Story
THANK YOU Austin Bradley (Park Superintendent) for permission to place earthcaches within Breaks Interstate Park.
STRATIGRAPHIC LAYERS
Here you will have a good view of the stratigraphic record of deposition in Pike County Kentucky. Unless overturned by geologic processes, the youngest layer is on top.
ROCKS OF KENTUCKY
"Sedimentary rocks are the most abundant rock type exposed at the surface of the earth and cover about 99 percent of Kentucky. They were formed by the accumulation of rock fragments, shell fragments, plant material, muds, and sands, which were transported to their present locations by water, air, wind, or ice to form clays, sandstones, shales, coals, and conglomerates."
SANDSTONE (Cemented sand)
What Does It Look Like? Sandstone is often red to brown, light gray to nearly white. Sometimes it is yellow or green. It usually is composed of rounded grains that are all of the same size; and it is usually medium grained. Some sandstones show slight color variations in layering.
What Minerals Make Up the Rock? Quartz; Sometimes contains: feldspars, mica, glauconite (in green colored sandstone), magnetite, garnet, rutile, ilmenite
How Was It Formed? Quartz sand that is produced by the weathering of other rocks (such as granite, gneiss, and other sandstones) is deposited by rivers, waves, or wind. The sediment may have been a sand bar, an ocean beach, or desert sand dunes. The sand is buried under other sediments, compacted by the weight of those sediments, and cemented by material dissolved in water that seeps through it.
SHALE (Compacted mud)
What Does It Look Like? Shale may be black, gray, red, brown, dark green, or blue. It is fine grained, so particles usually can not be seen. When moistened, shale usually smells like wet mud.
What Minerals Make Up the Rock? Clay minerals; Sometimes with some quartz sand, pyrite, gypsum
How Was It Formed? Clay sediments settle in quiet lakes, lagoons, bays, or off-shore areas. When buried and compacted the clays become shale. Iron oxides often help to cement the particles together.
CONGLOMERATE (Mixture Rounded Pebbles)
What Does It Look Like? Conglomerate looks like a mixture of sand and different sizes of rounded pebbles. The pebbles are the important observation.
What Minerals Make Up the Rock? mostly quartz
How Was It Formed? Sand and pebbles collect along sea shores, lake shores, or river banks. They are compacted by the weight of sediments that collect above them and cemented by material dissolved in the water that seeps through them.
COAL
Abundant throughout Kentucky are black coal seams.
"Coal is formed from peat, which is an accumulation of decayed vegetation usually associated with swamps. The process of the transformation from peat to coal is called coalification. In the stages of coalification, peat is altered to lignite, lignite is altered to sub-bituminous coal, sub-bituminous coal is altered to bituminous coal, and bituminous coal is altered to anthracite coal. Most Kentucky coal is bituminous, but some lignite occurs in western Kentucky."
SMOOTH GRAY PATCHES - These are patches of sprayed-on cement used as erosional measures.
TALUS - Broken pieces of rock.
RESOURCES - Kentucky Rocks ... Rock Key ... BIP Geological Trail ... BIP Geological Trail Video ... BIP Geological Trail Guide