earth cash on re-generated spoil heap

[+Debnal]

Hi all

Hope I'm in the right place, this is my first ever posting. What I'm trying to achieve is a "bonus" earthcache for a series I've created, the Bonus being a hike to the top of a coal mine spoil heap that has been turned into a country park. The actual description and co-ords will be on a small laminate in the series final cache.

1st Question would this be allowed

2nd question what sort of information is required (please don't send me to the guidelines page I've been there and can't make sense of it )

thanks in advance Debbie & Alan

[+Lostby7]

If you are creating it as a BONUS cache and not a freestanding listing you can write it up as you see fit. They will not get a find as an EarthCache however.

 

If you are having this as a actual EarthCache listing you will need to list the coords on the cache page and follow all the EarthCache rules. That means an Earth-Science lesson and questions that can be answered at the site which pertain to the lesson taught by the page.

[+GEO WALKER]

If this is to be an Earthcache…

 

Seeing how this spoil pile has been turned into a municipal park, you may want to take an environmental geology approach. Look for erosion and sediment controls near the steep slopes, issues that may enhance groundwater absorption or how geology is applied to the reused of the land.

 

From a natural resource angle, or any exposures of the natural resource mined, or evidence of the mining operation.

 

Perhaps have a talk w/the park manager or the planners that designed the park and see what they did in the way of land recycling to adress geological issues.

 

Hope this helps…

Edited February 10, 2013 by GEO WALKER

[+GeoawareGSA1]

Such an EarthCache can work, but they are often very difficult to construct in such a way that the meet all the guidelines, particularly #6:

 

"6. Logging an EarthCache requires visitors to undertake a site-specific task which provides a learning opportunity related to the topic. The logging tasks must have visitors using the information from the cache page along with their observations at the site to perform some type of analysis of their own. Logging task solutions will serve as the cache owner's proof that the cacher has visited the site. Questions which only serve to prove that someone visited the site, and do not relate to the site's geology, are not permitted. All requests for photographs must be optional. Visitors must be able to send their answers to logging tasks via the cache owner's profile. Auto-responders cannot be used to verify answers. (link to Help Center) The answers to the logging tasks must be placed in a Reviewer Note at the time of submission."

 

I don't know the details of your location, so it's hard to say for sure, but if the heap has been re-claimed as a public park, there may be insufficient "earth science" visible at the location, or at least not enough to make for a good, educational logging tasks to be solved on-site, at the coordinates.

 

Geo Walker's ideas sound real good, but the trick is finding a location where such features can actually be seen clearly enough for visitors to do some task related to them.

 

If there's not much to see, geologically speaking, I might recommend against trying to "force" an EarthCache into the location. (But again, keep in mind, I am not familiar with the location, so I may be way off base!)

 

Best wishes and happy caching,

GeoawareHQ

[+Harry Dolphin]

Sure it can be done. I know of a series completely on landfill. Done under previous guidelines, so your luck may vary.

You would need a geological lesson to be learnt at the site. Perhaps the volume of the hill? Some geological lesson that can be learnt at the site.

But you would need to work with the reviewer to develop the page/lesson.

Edited February 15, 2013 by Harry Dolphin

[+Carbon Hunter]

I am sure it would be possible - just ensure that you ensure the EC guidelines are followed and the Earth Science lesson is unique and relevant.