The Mojave Desert is home to some of the oldest rocks in
the world and this earthcache is at a location were some of them
can be seen.
The mojave is home to all three kinds of rocks, sedimentary,
metamorphic, and igneous, can be seen here. The earliest rocks that
can be found are a form of pre-cambrian gniess. That puts them at
about 1.6 billion years old! These formations can be observed here.
These rocks were then followed by the paleozoic era. The Paleozoic
era lasted from 570 Million years ago to 225 MYA. During that time
period much of this area was covered by shallow seas. This is what
weathered the older formations part way into the open and
added sedimentary formations. Next came the Mesozoic era from 225
MYA to 65 MYA. During that time period the mountain in this area
were pushed up by volcanism and fault action, adding the third type
of rock, igneous. This is also pushed up the formations from the
two previous time periods into the open. Next came
the Cenozoic Era, from 65 MYA to the present day. This is when
ice ages and weathering from water and air exposed the formations
even more up until the present day. Fualt in the area
continue to push the rocks into the open and even fold the rocks so
that the older formations are above the younger formations. The
geology of the area continues to change even today. This is evident
because earthquakes still ocasionally rock the area.
It's easy to identify the different kinds of rocks in the area.
The sedimentary rocks tend to be low-lying with layers visible
within them. the igneous rocks tend to be higher up and have a
darker color. The metamorphic rocks can be just about anywhere and
tend to have a similar color to the igneous rocks, but can be
identified by their slightly lower position in the hills.
To get credit for this earthcache e-mail me the answers to the
following questions:
1. The GC code and name of this cache.
2. The number of people in your group.
1. Formations of all three kinds of rock can be seen here, in what
direction is each one?
2. Based on the weathering of the metamorphic rock, are they the
precambrian rocks or newer formed ones?
3. how does the color of the rocks around the highway compare to
that of the rocks that form the hills?
4. How does the answer to number three support the fact that during
the Paleozoic era, this area was covered by seas?
5. What formations have the most weathering?
Note: This area has a high population of
rattlesnakes!
