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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.'"
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'!"
It was a local man that told the US students about how the sea "washed" a 78 tonne boulder up onto the beach. I would suggest the locals knew this happened and just didn't care or bother to work out why. Occasionally a storm will blow sea-weed from the beach 2 miles to my front door during a storm, so I assume that's normal because it always happens. Their rocks are just a bit bigger :D
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
Depends if you are taking a Sociological or Anthropological view of race.
A duck!
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
Well I'm Irish, living in Ireland, and as far as I can tell from watching the country fall apart around me; no, things don't seem to have moved on very much at all.
The country was bankrupted by a drunken Taoiseach, and is now being pauperised by religious one. People are emigrating in droves and TDs respond by complain about the problems of "fornication". Landlords, lawyers, and bankers are living high on an ascendancy hoc while everyone else is being squeezed dry, and the country is once again a pawn in the games of European great powers.
Frankly, things here don't seem to have moved on very much from the 1850s.
Personally, I found the joke amusing. I'm faced with enough incompetence to know that it's probably half true anyway.
May the Maths Be with you!
There isn't one sentence in there resembling reality. The country was bankrupted by a lying scumbag (Ahern) and an incompetent Finance Minister (Lenihan). Cowen was just a puppet. I must have missed the great fornication debate that seems to be taking up 100% of the time of 100% of the politicians in the country. Oh wait, no I didn't, because it was one back country TD making one ridiculous comment. More news you appear to have missed, the landlords of some twenty plus houses were forcibly evicted from their own palatial residence recently, there are plenty of unemployed solicitors, and even bankers have joined the dole queues. I know a few of them personally.
Perhaps the time has come for you to take a good look in the mirror and ask yourself who is looking back, because its not someone with a firm grasp on reality. That's even if you are in Ireland, because nobody here refers to solicitors as "lawyers".
Oh no; we're a competition.
May the Maths Be with you!
Cool! An Irish flame war - that's something I haven't seen on /. before! *GB fills his cup, sits back to watch.
It's easier to be a result of the past, but more fun to be a cause of the future! http://www.spacefinancegroup.com/
The oceans are just receding
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.
Living in the west of Ireland myself (Galway), I can tell you that is not true. I've never even heard of that improbably named gentleman who you claim is "one of Ireland's greatest humorous writers and a great student of the Irish language". (An unlikely name as in Irish, n never goes before c, also double-e would be an i "fada")
Maybe he markets himself to americans as such to part you from your hard-earned. Who knows.
A lot of Irish (and especially English, e.g. John Cleese, Sharon Osbourne etc) make a living in America by pandering to long held ethnic stereotypes that Americans fully believe in. This guy, assuming he is actually Irish, is just doing likewise. When you challenge the cherished and stereotypical view of the world that Americans hold dear, Americans get confused, resentful and angry.
Hope you've learned something today.
Brian O'Nolan
Brian O'Nolan (Irish: Brian Ó Nualláin) (5 October 1911 – 1 April 1966) was an Irish novelist, playwright and satirist regarded as a key figure in postmodern literature.[1] Born in Strabane, County Tyrone, he is best known for English language novels such as At Swim-Two-Birds, and The Third Policeman (written under the nom de plume Flann O'Brien) as well as many satirical columns in The Irish Times and an Irish language novel An Béal Bocht (written under the name Myles na gCopaleen), O'Nolan has also been referred to as a "scientific prophet" in relation to his writings on thermodynamics, quaternion theory and atomic theory.
XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
Who are you, so wise in the ways of witchery?
Ceci n'est pas un sig.