Author Topic: Glacial Erratic  (Read 1094 times)

windyrigg

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Glacial Erratic
« on: 10:23:02, 24/12/20 »
I just missed seeing an erratic move when once ascending Raise Beck from Dunmail Raise and wondered if anyone had seen similar?
I was a dull, dismal day (17 January 2017), mild enough but still with melting snow from Grisedale Tarn onwards to Dollywaggon Pike. On the way up the path I ran my hand along the top of a large rock, right at the side of the path, just above the beck.  Coming back down two or three hours later, the rock had shifted! This erratic was the size (and nearly the shape) of a van and had moved maybe 3ft NW, slightly downwards across towards the beck. It had been just above the beck on the way up and hadn't been visibly undercut. There was a clear evidence of the slide across the ground from its original position. I would be guessing its weight at perhaps 50t?
There is the action of ice and frost I suppose, but despite all we were taught in Geography, actually seeing this happening really surprised me. I wondered if I'd given it a proper shove on the way up I could have shifted it!   

BuzyG

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Re: Glacial Erratic
« Reply #1 on: 10:56:51, 24/12/20 »
An erratic post.  ;)

Water and gravity. Just two of the earth little movers. O0

When the whole universe spreads out enough and every where is 0 degs k, it will have all have appeared to stop.  Though the law of conservation of energy says that can never truly happen. That's a while off too. :)

Jac

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Re: Glacial Erratic
« Reply #2 on: 11:24:00, 24/12/20 »
No photo description available.Reminded me of this one, erratic and Irish it looked like an enormous egg about to hatch but it didn't move . :(  near Doolin, SW. Ireland. 
So many paths yet to walk, so little time left

GnP

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Re: Glacial Erratic
« Reply #3 on: 17:55:28, 24/12/20 »
Next time give it a good shove..Don`t look back..onwards and upwards
A night under silnylon. Doesn't have the same ring to it.

Birdman

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Re: Glacial Erratic
« Reply #4 on: 11:48:02, 26/12/20 »
I know these things are happening high in the Alps because some of these mountaintops are held together by permafrost which is now melting. But this doesn't apply to England, so I'm puzzled how this happened. No earthquakes either. Probably the ground is slowly sagging and the moves happen in discrete steps. Would be interesting and slightly worrying to see it happen in real time :)
My travel and walking reports: https://www.hikingbirdman.com/

richardh1905

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Re: Glacial Erratic
« Reply #5 on: 08:53:07, 27/12/20 »
We have some good erratics on Hampsfell - hard volcanic and gritty sedimentary boulders sitting atop a limestone plateau. Never seen any evidence of movement, though.
WildAboutWalking - Join me on my walks through the wilder parts of Britain

richardh1905

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Re: Glacial Erratic
« Reply #6 on: 08:54:18, 27/12/20 »
Erratics are referred to as "Erotics" in our household, after a Freudian slip on Snowdon back in 1984 !
WildAboutWalking - Join me on my walks through the wilder parts of Britain

Bigfoot_Mike

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Re: Glacial Erratic
« Reply #7 on: 10:31:40, 27/12/20 »
Erratics are referred to as "Erotics" in our household, after a Freudian slip on Snowdon back in 1984 !
I hope nobody was injured in the slip  :D

barewirewalker

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Re: Glacial Erratic
« Reply #8 on: 11:51:20, 27/12/20 »
Movement can be in situ, Mrs BWW found a rocking stone in the shape of a large saucer, which she proceeded to do an erotic tea cup dance on, somewhere in the Arenigs. Never revealed the location because some idiot would lift it up or turn it over, just to destroy what a few thousand years of wind and rain has produced. It made a great booming noise, that enhanced the erratic motion, so we were both able to enjoy a few moments of erotic pleasure on a mobile dance floor, in a strangely airy position.
BWW
Their Land is in Our Country.

Dyffryn Ardudwy

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Re: Glacial Erratic
« Reply #9 on: 19:40:07, 27/12/20 »
There are some pretty magical ones here in Snowdonia, as you can imagine, but the one that really rocks my boat, is a single solitary boulder, of considerable size, in Cwm Eigiau.
The one i am talking about, is on the hillside below the slopes between Foel Grach and Foel Fras.

Ive visited it a few times, and its only when you get up close to it, that you realise just how big the thing is.

I am nudging 6ft in height, but this boulder towers way above me, and its the only one on the hillside, so it looks a bit out of place, but you know your walking in a glacial valley.

Jac

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Re: Glacial Erratic
« Reply #10 on: 14:09:00, 28/12/20 »
Movement can be in situ, Mrs BWW found a rocking stone in the shape of a large saucer, which she proceeded to do an erotic tea cup dance on, somewhere in the Arenigs. Never revealed the location because some idiot would lift it up or turn it over, just to destroy what a few thousand years of wind and rain has produced. It made a great booming noise, that enhanced the erratic motion, so we were both able to enjoy a few moments of erotic pleasure on a mobile dance floor, in a strangely airy position.


We all take our pleasure differently  ;) ;D
So many paths yet to walk, so little time left

 

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