View Full Version : How'd this happen?
Pedaling Fool
11-26-2007, 22:08
Anyone know how this top rock, which is probably 500lbs, became balanced on the lower two? It's just hard to believe it happened naturally.
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=20154&c=519
P.S. This is on the AT, somewhere between Rock Spring and Pass Mtn Huts in SNP.
Jim Adams
11-26-2007, 22:22
I would venture to say man made.
geek
They appear to be the same kind of rock, so who knows? There are similar rock formations in the Garden of the Gods, CO, that aren't manmade. Then again it could be a Stonehenge thing. Some things are just for us to wonder about.:-?
Frolicking Dinosaurs
11-27-2007, 10:20
It could happen naturally if the rock on top cracked the rock on the bottom when it landed and years of erosion removed the cracked portion of the bottom rock. A second (and more plausible explanation) would be that there was originally soil in the empty space and that when the earth's crust was thrust upward in whatever event formed the mountain. Over the years, the soil would wash away leaving only the few small rocks seen supporting the large top rock.
Hmmm, looks to be similar to this precariously perched boulder (http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=19745)
Can't imagine why anyone would take the time to set up a tall tripod to place a big rock on top of another.
I'd call it an act of nature, probably been ther millions of years or more.
Were there mountain glaciers in SNP during the Ice Age? That's beyond where the continental glaciers reached.
Midway Sam
11-27-2007, 13:18
Ho, Ho, Ho, Green Giant. Actually, the Green Giant has been charged with sexual harrasment and is currently the target of a class action lawsuit on behalf of all the offended women of the world. Santa is a co-defendant...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071115/wl_asia_afp/lifestyleaustraliachristmasoffbeat
<P.S. This post was meant to be humerous. Please, no threatening PMs or e-mails>
CoyoteWhips
11-27-2007, 13:28
Hmmm, looks to be similar to this precariously perched boulder (http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=19745)
Can't imagine why anyone would take the time to set up a tall tripod to place a big rock on top of another.
I'd call it an act of nature, probably been ther millions of years or more.
There's ways to do it without the tripod (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRRDzFROMx0), but I'm voting for nature. With endless variation, you're bound to occasionally get rocks balanced on rocks.
Anyone know how this top rock, which is probably 500lbs, became balanced on the lower two? It's just hard to believe it happened naturally.
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=20154&c=519
I'm going to guess the Great Flood. Only because if the flood did this, your rock was a piece of cake.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v145/ThosS/GrandCanyon.jpg
(image from AOL images)
Tom
I realise this is an older thread but it reminded me of balance rock in Lanesborough Ma http://www.skyweb.net/~channy/BalanceRock.html
there are a few others in the area but thats the most popular due to it's poise.
http://www.neara.org/Moore/balancedrocks.htm
warraghiyagey
12-27-2007, 03:59
I did it.
I did it.
you're the creator of stonehenge? :eek:
4eyedbuzzard
12-28-2007, 09:41
Anyone know how this top rock, which is probably 500lbs, became balanced on the lower two? It's just hard to believe it happened naturally.
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=20154&c=519
P.S. This is on the AT, somewhere between Rock Spring and Pass Mtn Huts in SNP.
Given the shape of both rocks, it looks like a lot of erosion and rounding took place before the one on top was deposited there. Glacier action would be my bet, during one of the many retreats and advances. The last glaciation period didn't get that far south, but others did and the continent did drift around a bit. Then again, I'm no geologist, and the same guys who made those crop circles could be working overtime.;)
Pedaling Fool
12-28-2007, 12:02
Given the shape of both rocks, it looks like a lot of erosion and rounding took place before the one on top was deposited there. Glacier action would be my bet, during one of the many retreats and advances. The last glaciation period didn't get that far south, but others did and the continent did drift around a bit. Then again, I'm no geologist, and the same guys who made those crop circles could be working overtime.;)
This reminds me of the many hillsides (especially in the south) that are littered with rocks and boulders. If you look up and down you see nothing but rocks (I'm not talking about mountains, such as Mt Washington), walk a little they are gone, then some more they are back. Its as if they came out of the top of the mountain and just rolled down hill. I wonder how long until there's a major rock slide through those areas; it's going to happen only a matter of time.
warraghiyagey
12-28-2007, 14:03
you're the creator of stonehenge? :eek:
Kind of. . . sure. . . I mean, yes!!
Tennessee Viking
12-28-2007, 17:37
Its the trail ghosts playing a nice game of Stack the Rocks
Pedaling Fool
06-18-2008, 21:07
Anyone know how this top rock, which is probably 500lbs, became balanced on the lower two? It's just hard to believe it happened naturally.
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=20154&c=519
P.S. This is on the AT, somewhere between Rock Spring and Pass Mtn Huts in SNP.
I saw this balancing rock again, it's on the south side of Mary's Rock. I believe it's between Mary's rock and Byrds Nest#3 Picnic Shelter. It's right on the AT, it will be on your right side if you're SOBO. The top rock is pretty big and the bottom is a little smaller than a bowling ball.
I was walking on Kennesaw Mountain a couple of years ago with my then 4y/o grandson when he asked, "how did they get all these rocks up here"
If it weren't in SNP, I'd blame it on a glacier. But I don't think the glaciers made it that far south... or did they? :-?
Bulldawg
06-18-2008, 22:48
What about the balancing rock on the Georgia AT, just north of Flatrock Gap?
http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/files/1/5/3/5/4/dsc07169.jpg
Hikerhead
06-18-2008, 22:50
Here's a shot of a rock field at Sherando Lake just south of SNP. The mtn in the background in this picture is Three Ridge Mtn I believe. These rocks go from the top of the ridge down to the lake. You would think there would be a large cliff at the top that these rocks fell from. But no cliff. They go the top and stop. Yes, I've heard it said that glaciers didn't advance this far south and that these rock fields were caused by millions of years of freeze and thaw of a large rock outcrop. But if that's the case, shouldn't there be some kind of a large rock at the top? I think they're glacier formed and I'm sticking with that.
http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2167983340047269387PCIkUA
If it weren't in SNP, I'd blame it on a glacier. But I don't think the glaciers made it that far south... or did they? :-?
I am pretty sure the made it all the way to the smokies and that's why there is such a wide variety of plant life there.
Read the somewhere... :D
Ice Age Map...
http://www.iceagenow.com/Extent_of_Previous_Glaciation.htm
phenimore
06-24-2008, 10:55
It's very likely that this is a result of the rocks and dirt below being eroded away. (Actually my friends and I hiked out there a few years ago and had a little time to waste...;))
Pedaling Fool
06-25-2008, 00:08
Anyone know how this top rock, which is probably 500lbs, became balanced on the lower two? It's just hard to believe it happened naturally.
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=20154&c=519
P.S. This is on the AT, somewhere between Rock Spring and Pass Mtn Huts in SNP.
I saw this balancing rock again, it's on the south side of Mary's Rock. I believe it's between Mary's rock and Byrds Nest#3 Picnic Shelter. It's right on the AT, it will be on your right side if you're SOBO. The top rock is pretty big and the bottom is a little smaller than a bowling ball.
Here's another angle of that incredible rock, I just can't get enough of it.
Is it just me, or is Nancy Pelosi one hot babe?
It's just you! :D
No glaciers in Shenny, they stopped at DWG.
Erosion is the answer, specifically chemical weathering. The granite is jointed (regular spaced cracks formed by stress or pressure release) and water percolated through the cracks and broke down the unstable minerals (feldspar, mica) in the rock. The expansion of the weathering minerals breaks the grainite to pieces and soon rounded boulders remain, although they have never been transported by water. They were simply "let down" by the less resistant materials being slowly washed away, resulting in piles of rounded rocks. You can find fields of them all over the world if you look for them (City of Rocks in Idaho is my favorite).
In some cases these rounded erosional boulders date back to a wet, warm period prior to the Ice Age. Maybe the Miocene (more than 5 million years ago), or even older. In contrast, the Pliocene and Pleistocene were drier and cooler and more known for physical weathering processes than chemical weathering.
Climatic stability is an illusion; it is constantly changing. We're surrounded by relics of previous climatic conditions that were much different from today. For instance, all the "Devil's Racecourses" that trip us up on the AT in Pennsylvania are relics of periglacial weathering processes that were invigorated at the time that glaciers were advancing a bit further north. Jointed rock outcrops were broken to smitherines by physical weathering; water seeping in and expanding when frozen. That's why those rocks are mostly angular, compared to the rounded boulders made by chemical processes.
Anyway, that's my take.
Another interesting question: Have you ever heard of Pennsylvania's "Ringing Rocks"?:-?
Pennsylvania's "Ringing Rocks"?:-?
OK, let's hear it...
Pedaling Fool
09-13-2008, 11:57
http://www.davidhanauer.com/buckscounty/ringingrocks/
Audio of the ringing rocks at bottom of link.
Good site on the Ringing rocks.
Yes, they ring like the Liberty Bell when you wap 'em with a hammer.
Gray Blazer
09-15-2008, 08:04
I wasn't anywhere near there!