National Museum of Australia's Sandstone Garden
In the carpark of the National Museum of Australia there is a small sandstone garden. The pieces of sandstone have been strategically placed to form an artistic display of some of the most beautiful peices of nature that I have seen.
Sandstone is one of my favourite rocks mainly because of its uniqueness. Because sandstone is formed from nature itself, the colors, patterns, and hues found in any individual piece are completely unique and different.
The large blocks here have been cut and carved by artists, but the natural segment lines that run through the pieces are so pretty.
FACTS ABOUT SANDSTONE
Sandstone is the second most common sedimentary rock after shale. It consists of sand, calcite or quartz grains cemented and compressed together, typically red, yellow, or brown in colour. The reddish sandstone beds are enriched in iron-bearing minerals which turn red-brown when they oxidize during weathering. In contrast, the whitish sandstone beds are void of iron mineralogy and therefore do not develop the reddish colour. The stone gains its formation throughout centuries of deposits forming in lakes, rivers, or on the ocean floor. The texture is often similar to the roughness of sandpaper or a nail file. It is most commonly used for artistic purposes like carving statues, monuments, gravestones and fountains. Artists like to use sandstone as it is weather resistant, but easy to work with.
QUESTIONS TO ANSWER
1. Standing at the posted coordinates facing the carpark there are three pieces to your left - one tall piece and two horizontal pieces. One of those pieces is different from the others - why?
2. At this same block, what do you think caused this difference?
3. Looking to the back of the garden there is a tall vertical block. Which direction is the darkest mineral sedimentation going?
4. At this same block, what conclusion do you come up with as to why it is in this direction?
Please submit your answers for approval before logging and of course please do not post photos that will give the answers away to others who have not visited the site.
PLEASE NOTE: Although there is plenty of parking, it is pay parking during the week from 8:30am - 5pm at $2.90 per hour or $14 for the day. There is free parking on weekends and public holidays and always for limited mobility spaces and motorbikes.