Due to new earthcache guidelines, to claim this cache you
must e-mail me how many cubic yards of rock and soil were removed
from here to form this cut. The Exhibit Center is open daily from 9
a.m. until 5 p.m., except for major holidays.
Visitors to the Sideling Hill Exibit Center have a unique
opportunity to stop and view one of the best rock exposures in the
northeastern United States. Highway construction cut through the
mountain exposing almost 850 vertical feet of a textbook example
syncline formed nearly 350 million years ago. Syncline's are a
configuration of folded, stratified rocks in which rocks dip
downward from opposite directions to come together in a trough.
Here you will view many different layers of rock and an ancient
river bed that has been exposed. A noticeable feature when you look
at the exposure is the ever-present water flowing from the sides of
the hill. Two water-bearing zones, called aquifers, were
intercepted by the excavation of the mountain. As the aquifers
leak, the evaporating water causes iron oxide, or rust, to be
deposited along the sides of the rocks. During the winter months, a
great ice cascade can be seen as the flowing water freezes. Inside
the Exhibit Center you will get an up close look at many different
types of sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rock taken from the
excavation. For more information on Sideling Hill go to
http://www.mgs.md.gov/esic/brochures/sideling.html