Help with developing an earthcache in the middle of a city.

[+McAdies]

Hi All,

We have currently developed 7 EarthCaches but have relied on signage to get the questions to answer in the past.

The city we live in has a few spots that we feel would be worthy of developing into EarthCaches, but there is no interpretative signage.

One is the edge of a Lava Flow where there is a steep hill but it is in the middle of town with no exposed rock. Would this be able to be developed? The only real activity we can think of is to measure the altitude at the top and bottom of the hill to get the thickness. Has anyone else seen one like this?

Another is a road cutting with some interesting exposed folded and faulted sediments intruded by quartz. Not sure what activities to get people to do here apart from measuring some of the different layers.

 

Any help or example of similar Earthcaches you have seen would be greatly appreciated!

[+NeverSummer]

Hi All,

We have currently developed 7 EarthCaches but have relied on signage to get the questions to answer in the past.

The city we live in has a few spots that we feel would be worthy of developing into EarthCaches, but there is no interpretative signage.

One is the edge of a Lava Flow where there is a steep hill but it is in the middle of town with no exposed rock. Would this be able to be developed? The only real activity we can think of is to measure the altitude at the top and bottom of the hill to get the thickness. Has anyone else seen one like this?

Another is a road cutting with some interesting exposed folded and faulted sediments intruded by quartz. Not sure what activities to get people to do here apart from measuring some of the different layers.

 

Any help or example of similar Earthcaches you have seen would be greatly appreciated!

Yes. Ask your local Geoaware for some help with the context you have.

 

Elevation is generally frowned upon for a logging task. Not all GPSers do it well, and those that do aren't that accurate.

 

Otherwise, the best thing to do is make sure to be ok with the fact that your Earthcache might get rated with a higher difficulty! Make your requirements specific and focus on a way that they could identify the rock type, or quartz intrusions.

 

Best bet will be to run it by Geoaware and brainstorm together. That's worked for me in these tough situations.

[+GEO WALKER]

Just thinking out loud here... Have you given any thought to the architectural use of stone used in the local buildings say both exterior and interior?

[+McAdies]

Just thinking out loud here... Have you given any thought to the architectural use of stone used in the local buildings say both exterior and interior?

 

That is an option. We are going to properly check the area out soon. Got a couple of other spots we might try and do that with too (Statue Bases in a trail) and see if we can research if the building stone was local or not. For some reason lots was brought from elsewhere.

[+GEO WALKER]

Just thinking out loud here... Have you given any thought to the architectural use of stone used in the local buildings say both exterior and interior?

 

That is an option. We are going to properly check the area out soon. Got a couple of other spots we might try and do that with too (Statue Bases in a trail) and see if we can research if the building stone was local or not. For some reason lots was brought from elsewhere.

 

"Opulence" comes to mind...

[+hzoi]

We just developed one on a bioretention basin (rain garden). Even if you don't have a display model like we did, you can probably find an example of a rain garden pretty easily and develop a cache around it.

 

If any of the statue bases/foundations around are made of granite, the nature of granite lends itself to an earthcache lesson. Only question is what the imperfections are called in your neck of the woods -- I've seen them called "crapauds" (toads) and "cat's paws."

 

Similarly, you can develop an earthcache on marble.

 

Or even dirt.

[+GEO WALKER]

We just developed one on a bioretention basin (rain garden). Even if you don't have a display model like we did, you can probably find an example of a rain garden pretty easily and develop a cache around it.

 

If any of the statue bases/foundations around are made of granite, the nature of granite lends itself to an earthcache lesson. Only question is what the imperfections are called in your neck of the woods -- I've seen them called "crapauds" (toads) and "cat's paws."

 

Similarly, you can develop an earthcache on marble.

 

Or even dirt.

Along the lines of the bioretention basins... Are there any examples in your area of porous man made surfaces such as concrete or blacktop a.k.a. macadam, or tarmac? They are rather impressive examples of environmental geology...

[+GeoawareGSA1]

Maybe this info will help a little bit: http://support.Groundspeak.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=296

The roadcut sounds most promising, as long as people can access it safely.

With a bit of research, you can probably come up with some interesting tasks regarding the sequence of the layers, the direction of the forces that caused the folding, the rock type, the environments in which the rocks were originally deposited (and then deformed), etc.

--Matt

(geoawarehq)

[savant9]

.........

 

Or even dirt.

 

I love it! I have one on clay.

[+egroeg]

If you're still looking for topics to place an Earthcache in your city, don't forget that geology is about more than landforms and rocks, it can also be about geological processes. My urban Earthcache on chemical weathering was recently approved: GC449DK.

[+Manville Possum]

We just developed one on a bioretention basin (rain garden). Even if you don't have a display model like we did, you can probably find an example of a rain garden pretty easily and develop a cache around it.

 

If any of the statue bases/foundations around are made of granite, the nature of granite lends itself to an earthcache lesson. Only question is what the imperfections are called in your neck of the woods -- I've seen them called "crapauds" (toads) and "cat's paws."

 

Similarly, you can develop an earthcache on marble.

 

Or even dirt.

Along the lines of the bioretention basins... Are there any examples in your area of porous man made surfaces such as concrete or blacktop a.k.a. macadam, or tarmac? They are rather impressive examples of environmental geology...

I have a Rain Garden EC. http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=cd207be6-3f90-4060-93e1-7e76f46fd21d

I need to take time to read the new guidelines. I enjoy Waymarking and virtual listings, but I have not been active in EarthCaching after the last guideline changes.

[+hzoi]

I'm developing one right now that partially addresses building materials and partially addresses structural cracks due to uneven settling (building on sand is always a challenge). If I get the green light, I'll link to it once it's published.