[Rockhounds] Okotoks erratic put together again

Wed Feb 4 08:38:56 PST 2009

I can't believe how many people on this list question that the two parts 
of the erratic do not fit together. How many geologic processes can you 
think of where they would not match? If they did not match, now that 
would be a big news. The two halves are very jointed and weathered. I 
would think a better question could be are they even erratics? I think 
they are erratics even though it is hard to imagine a glacier carrying 
such broken up and jointed rock a long ways from their origin. When did 
the glaciers melt in the area and could they have weathered that much in 
that time since the glacier melted? I would assume they have been there 
probably around 10,000 years, since the end of the last ice age. Is 
10,000 years enough time to have that much weathering?

R. Peter Richards wrote:
> 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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