[Rockhounds] Okotoks erratic put together again

Wed Feb 4 06:40:03 PST 2009

We've now seen two pretty convincing "reconstructions" of this  
erratic.  But if I'm not mistaken, both of them put the right half on  
the left and vise versa.  How did the two halves get moved to their  
current configuration if the reconstructions reveal their original  
orientation?  I would find it much easier to believe that the rock  
split in two after it was deposited by the glacier, and took its  
current orientation primarily by settling of the ground underneath.   
In that case, the left one should stay on the left in those  
reconstructions.

Pete Richards

On Feb 3, 2009, at 8:31 PM, J Bryan Kramer wrote:

> Well I had a try at it based on this shot:
>
> <http://www.pbase.com/image/73508329>
>
> And came up with this:
>
> <http://upload.pbase.com/image/108852525>
>
> via photoshop CS4
>
> As for why assume it was one piece, how likely is it that a glacier  
> would
> randomly drop two huge chunks of rock right next to each other.  
> Occam's
> razor says it is probably the same rock.
>
> BK
>
> On Mon, Feb 2, 2009 at 17:34, GLENN ANDREWS <LIpumpkin at msn.com> wrote:
>
>> Any others care to express their opinion on this?
>>
>> Well, if its broken into two pieces how does that make it one  
>> erratic?
>>
>>  ----- Original Message -----
>>  From: Lanny R<mailto:lanny.r at roadrunner.com>
>>  To: Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem
>> collectors<mailto:Rockhounds at drizzle.com
>> :%20A%20mailing%20list%20for%20rock%20and%20gem%20collectors>
>>  Sent: Monday, February 02, 2009 12:13 PM
>>  Subject: Re: [Rockhounds] glacial erratics (was Stonehenge geology
>> resolved)
>>
>>
>>   I have a doubt about the "Big Rock," this Okotoks Erratic really  
>> being
>>  one rock broken into two pieces. First, I don't recall ever seeing a
>>  large rock that I was sure had obviously broken into two pieces  
>> where
>>  it had settled in the middle so that the two pieces dipped inwards.
>>  Secondly, I can't see any match in the layers between the two  
>> pieces.
>>  That might be just a problem of how it is shown in the  
>> photograph, so
>>  that one can't really see them all that well. Thirdly, the piece on
>>  the right is more broken up and has a lot of  rusty layers, very
>>  unlike the left piece.
>>
>>  Any others care to express their opinion on this?
>>
>>  Regards,
>>
>>  Lanny
>>
>>
>>   On Feb 2, 2009, at 8:48 AM,  
>> pmodreski at aol.com<mailto:pmodreski at aol.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Neat website about that big rock, Kreigh!
>>>
>>>
>>> Some erratics are big. You might enjoy the size of the biggest one?
>>> ?
>>>
>> http://culture.alberta.ca/museums/historicsiteslisting/ 
>> okotokserratic/default.aspx
>> <
>> http://culture.alberta.ca/museums/historicsiteslisting/ 
>> okotokserratic/default.aspx
>>> ?
>>> ?
>>> and the interesting legend of how it split in two.?
>>> ?
>>> Kreigh?
>>>
>>>
>>> And, alas, I'm afraid your post was a great disillusionment to me,
>>> because I couple of years ago I had visited, and was very impressed
>>> by, the Madison, Carroll County, New Hampshire, glacial erratic, a
>>> N.H. State "Wayside Monument" and locally known as "the largest
>>> known glacial erratic".? It is,
>>>
>>>
>>> "Madison Boulder is a huge granite rock measuring 83 feet (25 m) in
>>> length, 23 feet (7.0 m) in height above the ground, and 37 feet (11
>>> m) in width. It weighs upwards of 5,000 tons."
>>>
>>> Your Okotoks Erratic "Big Rock" in Alberta has?clearly got it all
>>> beat,
>>>
>>> "The Okotoks Erratic weighs 16,500 tons. It measures 9 metres high,
>>> 41 metres long and 18 metres wide."
>>>
>>> and?evidently holds the world record, as is stated in the very good
>>> Wikipedia article about glacial erratics,
>>>
>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glacial_erratic<
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glacial_erratic>
>>>
>>> Next time I'm in Alberta (never been there, actually), I've got to
>>> see it!
>>>
>>> Cheers, Pete
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>
>
>
> -- 
>
> ""It often seems to me that the night is much more alive and richly  
> colored
> than the day."
>
>                       Vincent van Gogh
> J Bryan Krämer
> North Florida, USA
> photos at:
> http://pbase.com/photoburner
>
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___________________________________
R. Peter Richards
rpr at heidelberg.edu
Morphological crystallographer

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