1 Church Stones

Site of Task 1

Look through the information for this location, when you are ready to have a go at the task, touch ‘do it‘

Unlike other Voyages this one will allow you to answer all the tasks and get a score, whether you are actually in the area of the Voyage or maybe sitting at home on the other side of the world.

Once you have submitted your task answer, you are NOT allowed another go. Most tasks will have a number of questions, use the Next button to move to the next part of the task – you also have a previous button to go back to questions (but not to have another go if already answered). Some questions give you the chance to boost your life support (water and oxygen supplies).

The ‘list all‘ button gives a menu of all the tasks in the Voyage. You can jump to a task at any time from this menu, or by touching a task number on the map. But remember, normally you can only answer a task when in the actual task area!\ When you are using Voyager in the actual area of a Voyage you will be alerted when you enter the area of a task. Blue dots appear beside the tasks in the list, to show which tasks you have completed. If the blue dot is flashing it means that some of the questions in that task have not yet been answered. You get a final score only when all questions in all tasks have been completed.

Stone in church wall

Churches and old stone buildings were usually built using stone that could be quarried as close to the construction site as possible. By looking at the stones of the church you get clues to the type of rock which exists around here.

The picture is a closeup of a typical stone from the church. If you are actually there you could feel the texture of the stone and ideally view it through a hand lens. Looking at the grains of the rock – (use the zoom button for a full screen closeup).

Are they rounded or angular?
Rounded grains are indicative of being transported by the wind, e.g. in a desert.

Are they well sorted (all of a similar size)?
Well sorted indicates transport over a longer distance, giving the opportunity for larger sized grains to be deposited first.

What mineral(s) are cementing the grains together?
The red colour is due to iron oxide. Red in sedimentary rocks is a strong indicator they have formed on the land, often under arid (dry) conditions

Pebbles in the stones

Many of the stones contain an assortment of quartzite pebbles (up to 4cm across). Pebbles are only going to be moved by fast flowing water – a high energy environment.

A second feature is cross-bedding (the sweeping and cross-cutting lines which have been picked out by weathering). Cross-bedding is produced when sediment is moved by either wind or water.

A channel of fast flowing water (flowing from left to right in the image = see below) builds layer upon layer of sediment – a wave of sediment building in the flow direction. Then later – maybe days, months, years – a channel of water flowing from right to left erodes the earlier sediments forming a new set of sediment layers above the erosion surface. This process can happen over and over. In most cases older sediment layers will be completely eroded away by younger channels.

A rock with pebbles, like the one in picture, is called a conglomerate.

Task Site 1 Questions

Which type of rock seems to be typical of this area?

a) Quartz
b) Limestone
c) Sandstone
d) Pebbles

What type of environment would you say these rocks formed in?

a) Under the sea
b) Fast flowing rivers
c) Lakes
d) Desert