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Scientists Solve Mystery of Ireland's Moving Boulders
Hugh Pickens writes "How has a 78-ton boulder traveled 130 meters inland from the sea since 1991? Live Science reports that geologists have puzzled for years over the mysterious boulders that litter the desolate coastline of Ireland's Aran Islands that somehow move on their own when no one is looking. The sizes of the boulders in the formations range 'from merely impressive to mind-bogglingly stupendous,' writes geoscientist Rónadh Cox. While some researchers contend that only a tsunami could push these stones, new research finds that plain old ocean waves, with the help of some strong storms, do the job. Some boulders move inland at an average rate of nearly 3 meters per decade, with one rock moving 3.5 meters vertically and 69 meters horizontally in one year. The team compared modern high-altitude photos of the coastline to a set of meticulous maps from 1839 that identified the location of the boulders' ridges — nearly 100 years after the most recent tsunami to hit the region, which struck in 1755. The Aran cliffs rise nearly vertically out of the Atlantic (video), leaving very deep water close to the shore. As waves slam into the sheer cliff, that water is abruptly deflected back out toward the oncoming waves. This backflow may amplify subsequent waves resulting an occasional storm wave that is much larger than one would expect. 'There's a tendency to attribute the movement of large objects to tsunami,' says Cox. 'We're saying hold the phone. Big boulders are getting moved by storm waves.'"
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Next thing "science" will probably try and explain moving statues.
I was always told the cause of seeing boulders move in Ireland was Whiskey.
Why would anyone think that sea aliens would do such a thing, when there are Selkies about?
"Little does he know, but there is no 'I' in 'Idiot'!"
They only just worked out it was the waves. It reminds me of the joke about the Irishman who studied medicine for five years. He cam to the conclusion that it was nasty tasting stuff that came in a glass bottle.
Maybe the boulders can float. These rocks don't look like basalt/granite and can therefore move around more easily when submerged.
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
In the middle of one of our courtyards, we had a small shrine with a statue of Mary, depicting the appearance of her at Lourdes. There was also a lot of rocks and plants for decoration.
One day, we came into school and one of the larger boulders had been moved across the yard to the other side. It had a note attached to it saying "It's a miracle, it moved!".
True story.
+1 IDisagreeSoHeMustBeATrollOrAnAstroturferOrAShill
Are they sure that it wasn't Ireland that was moving instead?
If Pandora's box is destined to be opened, *I* want to be the one to open it.
...it's the Leprechauns.
has no one heard of the sailing stones?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailing_stones
Sailing stones, sliding rocks, and moving rocks all refer to a geological phenomenon where rocks move in long tracks along a smooth valley floor without human or animal intervention. They have been recorded and studied in a number of places around Racetrack Playa, Death Valley, where the number and length of travel grooves are notable. The force behind their movement is not confirmed and is the subject of research.
Which by the way- occur on land masses devoid of water????
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
Proof would be to measure a REAL storm wave moving the bolder.
Or use the simulation and see if a wave occurs as predicted by it.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
FTFA (first line):
How did a 78-ton boulder travel 17 miles above high water, 130 meters inland?
This is the start of an entirely different news article that I can complete in two words: it didn't.
I can't believe that this was a mystery. This is completely obvious to anyone who can think. There is a similar phenomenon with the moving rocks in the Death Valley. If you have water and wind you can basically move anything given enough time.
Aren't leprechauns much more parsimonious?
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
The oceans are just receding
Dr. Brian O'Nolan, aka Miles nCopaleen, one of Ireland's greatest humorous writers and a great student of the Irish language, once remarked that the only four words you really needed to know to get by in Western Ireland were downpour, eternity, whiskey and potatoes. The French, on the other hand, were frequently militarily successful until the start of WW2 (and, as the US discovered, weren't the only round-eyes who couldn't hold on to Vietnam), whereas the Russians themselves joke about the perversity of life in Russia. So: sarcastic exemplar fail.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
True story: I was in an Irish glaziers in Kilburn when a man came in with an order. He started to read it out and the man behind the counter said "How do I know that comes from your boss? If I know him he'll deny all knowledge of it." The other guy said "Look, he's signed it at the bottom". The reply? "I know your boss, he's capable of forging his own signature." Yes, it's the sense of humour. They know precisely what they're saying.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
And thus the leprechauns secret was safe for another 100 years
Instead of "Scientists Solve Mystery of Ireland's Moving Boulders" it should read "Scientists *Deepen* Mystery of Ireland's Moving Boulders."
This is what the linked article amounts to. Scientists believed that tsunamis moved the boulders in question. Comparing aerial photos to old surveys of the islands show that can't be the explanation, because boulders have moved since the last tsunami. The scientists then speculated that it might be rogue waves. Then they ginned up a plausible mechanism by which rogue waves might be more common on Aran than thought. Because it was plausible they concluded that *must* be the explanation, because the next best thing they could think up is little green men.
For the record, I think rogue waves moved the boulders. I've seen what waves can do to stony reefs, and the power of water is not to be underestimated. But I have no proof, and neither do they. If the articles are to be believed (which is often doubtful), they researchers are building models around the *assumption* that it must have been rogue waves. Using such a model as evidence of its assumptions would be begging the question.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Or just inconsistent writing?
"How has a 78-ton boulder traveled 130 meters inland from the sea since 1991? ... Some boulders move inland at an average rate of nearly 3 meters per decade,....
The way I learned math 130m in 21 years is much greater than 3m/decade.
make imaginary.friends COUNT=100 VISIBLE=false
This is evidence that, as suggested by Aristotle thousands of years ago, rocks have free will. They are not pulled to the center of the earth by an "invisible" force as was suggested by Newton, but the rocks prefer to be closer to larger rocks, of which our planet is a colony of closely connected rocks. The rocks in Ireland are most likely moving inland of their own free will so they can self-assemble into structures such as the one found at Stonehenge in England. Even when faced with clear and convincing evidence, the unbelievers grasp at straws and try to make up absurd explanations for the truth that is revealed in front of them. Everybody knows that there is no mechanical means that early humans could have used to drag stones hundreds of miles to Stonehenge. The same is true for the stones that assembled into the pyramids at Egypt. Now we are supposed to believe that storm waves are moving the stones, against all plausible logic or liklihood - AND WITHOUT EVIDENCE. A pure hypothesis of those who refuse to believe. It is time for all humanity to pull their heads out of the sand and embrace the reality that rocks have free will and are the dominant life form on this planet. I, for one, welcome our ancient geologic overlords!
"Once a corral of wooden stakes was placed around two of the rocks. The team then left. (Remember, the rocks won't move when anyone is around.) When they returned, one rock had moved out, while the other stayed in the corral. The rocks seem to slide rather than roll, but to this day, no one knows why. The only certainty is that something is either pushing or pulling them."
TFA is a good theory for Ireland but there must be something else at work in Death Valley. Ice has been ruled out as well.
http://voices.yahoo.com/moving-rocks-death-valley-national-park-13323.html
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I thought this phenomena also occurred int he high desert of chile? Ocean waves will not explain those ones..
It's pretty easy for moving water to move large rocks. Their "weight" underwater is far less than in air.
...oh it's just Tesla yet again....
The Forbidden Question: Who Owns What?
Steve Cole (New America Foundation, funded by the Peterson Foundation), author of the latest book on ExxonMobil, Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power, has been on the book tour, appearing on show after show, where repeatedly one question is never asked:
Who owns ExxonMobil?
Why is the most obvious question never – ever – asked?
Why won’t Amy Goodman, of Democracy Now!, and the various NPR show hosts ever ask this question?
Yes, ExxonMobil is a publicly traded corporation, but who or what owns the most stock in that corporation? Why is this always a mystery? Why should this be a mystery?
True, today with an endless number of holding companies and shell companies registered at offshore finance centers to obfuscate ownership – to make all things murky – it is difficult to ascertain, but knowing who owns stuff can be truly enlightening.
What if the same individuals or families own the controlling block of shares of both BP AND Transocean?
Who knows the answer to this question --- and why is it never asked?
When certain corporations and banks are mentioned, certain family names come to mind: ExxonMobil (Rockefeller and Mellon), BP (Rockefeller and Rothschild), AT&T (Morgan and Rockefeller), GE (Morgan), JP Morgan Chase (Morgan and Rockefeller), Citigroup (Rockefeller), Morgan Stanley (Morgan), Royal Dutch/Shell (Rothschild), Rio Tinto (Rothschild), Northrop Grumman (the Bush family and James Baker), and Transocean (Rothschild).
Quite probably this is still the case?
When Louis Brandeis wrote the epochal book at the beginning of the 20th century, Other People’s Money and How the Bankers Use It, he exposed the true ownership and super-concentration of wealth; an exposé eventually leading to the New Deal.
It’s the 21st century: do you know who your owners are?
sgt_doom
Sure they are, they share many characteristics of being a race, similar cultural background, they share a Celtic background with the Scottish, Cornish, welsh and French, shared language in Irish Gaelic, small geographic ancestry from the west of Europe, and distinct physical appearance, they are all small, red headed drunks with a perchance for green and pots of gold.
You m issed out the Manx and the french are called Breton ... just making sure.
Quite simply it was on a plate (unification) ... but they missed their chance ...
It's ghosts, and water that move the rocks. I mean, what happens when you put a rock on water? it sinks, clearly water can't move rocks~
This is all made up so scientists can get grants and force more taxes down are thought.
AGW sound like this, but 100 times worse.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
As the linked comment suggests the Irish PM de Valera did not trust Churchill's secret promise - and he had some very good reasons not to.
In WWI Britain had made public expansive promises of autonomy to India in exchange for that nation's vigorous support of the war effort - only to be met with the extremely repressive Rowlatt Act in 1919, followed by the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar, Punjab.
In the massacre Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer had the British Army block all escape routes for a large crowd of men, women and children gathered for the festival of Baisakhi, then open fire into the crowd for 10 minutes. 1,500 Indians were casualties, the British later claimed that 379 were killed (a curiously exact number since they did not count the bodies), historians believe the number killed was much higher, Indians estimate it at 1000. Dyer was forced to retire, but was received as a hero in Britain.
In Ireland itself, home rule was promised in 1914 - but suspended when the war broke out, during which the British tried conscripting the Irish to fight in the trenches, and after the end of the war no action to deliver the promised home rule was taken, leading to the Irish War of Independence.
With this recent history in mind (only 20 years before) de Valera had little reason to trust Churchill's secret promise.
Starships were meant to fly, Hands up and touch the sky - Nicky Minaj