This Sunday is International EarthCache Day, an event promoted by the Geological Society of America to encourage geoscience learning in the outdoors. EarthCaches are interesting geological sites that you can find with a handheld GPS unit or just your smartphone, sites that offer a unique look at the world around you. Driving to work or even eating dinner we’re all surrounded by the forces that shape our planet but often we walk right past!
EarthCaching is a fun way to learn more about your surroundings and how local landscapes came to be. There are EarthCache sites all over the world and the STEM Center has been working to create some within reach of the SIUE campus. You can read a little about our efforts to create engaging EarthCaches here. Our EarthCache sites are nearby, some even on campus, and they can open your eyes to some of the geology of this region.
As an added incentive to celebrate EarthCache Day, if you do at least five of our published EarthCaches and are one of the first 100 people to turn them in to us, you will receive a commemorative geocoin! The design is pictured below and the coin is 1.5 inches wide. Geocoins are collectors’ items so don’t miss out on your chance to get one by going out and visiting our EarthCaches We will be distributing the coins during the fall months in the order we receive submissions, so complete our EarthCaches soon to be sure you get one!