Oakmulgee Earthcache EarthCache
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This Earthcache is located on a little used forest road that runs along a ridge top in the Oakmugee Division of the Talladega National Forest. The cache site is located at a broken up out-crop of rocks that are part of the Coker and Gordo Formations of the Tuscaloosa Group. The Tuscaloosa group is an old layer of rocks that are part of the Cretaceous Period of the Mesozoic Era. These rocks are probably more than 60 Million years old. The deposits that these rocks are made of came from the Appalachian Mountain region to the northeast. At one time the Appalachian Mountains were even higher than the Himalayan Mountains are today. This region of Alabama was covered by an ancient sea that had receded and now exposed dry land. Evidence that these rocks were exposed to the oxygen in the atmosphere when they formed is evident by their color. These rocks formed along what geologist call an unconformity. An unconformity is a break in Geologic Time. In any given area, material is either being deposited at a site or it is being eroded away. Rocks and material that are exposed to weathering are eroded away and with the erosion the geologic record is being erased. An unconformity occurs when the geologic record has been erased for a period of time and then new material is deposited again such as the sand gravel that was deposited here 60 million years ago that is now exposed as this out-crop. The particles that make up these rocks were probably deposited in a shallow sea near the shore or along a meandering river bed.
To log this cache please take a picture of yourself (optional) at the cache site that shows the rock out-crop as well as your GPSr and post your picture in the cache gallery and email me the answer to the following two questions:
1. What is an unconformity?
2. What type of rocks are exposed here?
3. What size particles make up these rocks?
4. What general colors are rocks that form when exposed to oxygen (like these rocks).
Congrats to DrDFrid for the FTF!!
Additional Hints
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