fv@whuts.UUCP (FRANKLIN) (10/14/87)
Does anyone know the explanation for the following phenomenon? While hiking up Cannon Mountain in New Hampshire this past weekend I noticed some odd holes in the granite on the top of the mountain. These holes were about 3-4 inches in diameter, about the same amount deep and were fairly circular in appearance. They appeared to be randomly placed (?) around one part of the mountain. There were no buildings or man made objects nearby that could explain their existence. I thought they may have been either core sample or anchor holes for some structure but their shallowness disproved this. One theory I was kicking around was that they may have been caused by lightning. Has anyone seen these elsewhere or know what may have caused them? Thanks in advance -- DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed Scott R. Franklin here are mine and mine alone and do AT&T (The RIGHT Choice) Bell Labs not necessarily represent those of 20 Shattuck Road Room 4Q-114 my employer. Andover, MA ihnp4!whuts!fv
lindsay@K.GP.CS.CMU.EDU (Donald Lindsay) (10/14/87)
Lightning shouldn't be able to make a 3" deep hole in hardrock. One possibility is inclusions in the rock: that is, pieces of a softer rock became embedded in the magma which cooled to become the granite. The inclusions (that are on the surface) have since weathered. Another possibility is that magma contracts when it cools. This can lead to interesting forms - tunnels and "giant's stairs" - and might lead to shallow holes, I suppose. Since you found many holes, I incline to the inclusion theory. -- Don lindsay@k.gp.cs.cmu.edu CMU Computer Science
clif@chinet.UUCP (Clif Flynt) (10/14/87)
In article <3013@whuts.UUCP> fv@whuts.UUCP (FRANKLIN) writes: > >Does anyone know the explanation for the following phenomenon? > ... odd holes in the granite on the top of the mountain. >These holes were about 3-4 inches in diameter, about the same >amount deep and were fairly circular in appearance. > ... There are similar holes in large granite rocks where I grew up (Upstate New York). The folk wisdom is that these were Indian ovens. The Amerinds would stuff dough into these holes, and build a fire on the rock to bake the bread. The holes in NYS were in the sides of large rocks, if that make any difference. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ My Opinions are my own. I can't imagine why anyone else would want them. Clif Flynt ihnp4!chinet!clif ------------------------------------------------------------------------
beede@hubcap.UUCP (Mike Beede) (10/14/87)
in article <3013@whuts.UUCP>, fv@whuts.UUCP (FRANKLIN) says: > > Does anyone know the explanation for the following phenomenon? > While hiking up Cannon Mountain in New Hampshire this past weekend > I noticed some odd holes in the granite on the top of the mountain. > These holes were about 3-4 inches in diameter, about the same > amount deep and were fairly circular in appearance. I've seen things like this on the North Shore of Lake Superior where there are waterfalls (dry at the time ;->). I thought they might be caused by water action swirling small stones around in the hole, making the hole deeper and deeper. These holes had straight sides, and were usually about 3-4" in diameter and 9-12" deep. Seems that someone once told me that was where they came from, but I don't remember. Oh yeah, they were so circular they looked drilled (but apparently weren't -- at least there were no tool marks and they were too big to have drilled for blasting). As to their being on a mountain, remember that they may have been made rather long ago. BTW, there were usually a lot of these holes around or none at all, but rarely an isolated one. -- Mike Beede Computer Science Dept. UUCP: . . . !hubcap!beede Clemson University INET: beede@hubcap.clemson.edu Clemson SC 29634-1906 YOUR DIME: (803)656-{2845,3444}
cipher@mmm.UUCP (Andre Guirard) (10/15/87)
In article <3013@whuts.UUCP> fv@whuts.UUCP (FRANKLIN) writes: >While hiking up Cannon Mountain in New Hampshire this past weekend >I noticed some odd holes in the granite on the top of the mountain. >These holes were about 3-4 inches in diameter, about the same >amount deep and were fairly circular in appearance. >Has anyone seen these elsewhere or know what may have caused >them? What you have found are the footprints of the dreaded Fujiwatsu. The Fujiwatsu looks something like a cross between a goat and giant seal, with fangs and three legs like fenceposts with knees. It is immensely powerful, and bounds from planet to planet in our solar system. Naturally, when it lands it leaves holes in even the hardest rock. Cannon Mountain is a place it lands infrequently, which is why you found only a few holes. Other mountain peaks and some lower rocky places are riddled with these holes. NASA once had a plan to lasso this creature and use it to haul astronauts to other planets, but this plan was discarded as too dangerous: the Fujiwatsu eats things the size and consistency of space capsules for lunch. In fact, many of the iron meteorites that fall on this planet are probably its feces. -- /''`\ DISCLAIMER: Ideas should not be Andre Guirard ([]-[]) held responsible for the ihnp4!mmm!cipher \ o / people who believe in them. Ombro de Sro. Ed. `-'
ftg@gatech.edu (Gary Peterson) (10/16/87)
While on a recent "hike" up Georgia's infamous Stone Mtn., the holes were pointed out to me by a long time resident with lightning as the explanation. The holes were 3-6" across but mostly less than 2" deep. The distribution of the holes support the lightning explanation as they were clustered mostly along locally higher areas (anything 6" higher than anything within a couple feet). There were virtually none in shallow depressions and none at all in deep ones, ruling out flowing water (which is a temporary phenomenon on a bare moutaintop. Stone Mtn. is a very homogenous monolith, inclusions are not to be seen anywhere on the exposed top. Given all the evidence, including the local climate's preponderance of storms, I cannot think of any explanation that comes even close to lightning. To prove this would require registering all holes over a large area and re-checking after a large thunderstorm. (I think eliminating an attempt to actually WATCH for strikes during a storm is wise.) A mid-size lightning strike has more than enough energy to vaporize 100 cm3 of granite. ftg
palmer@oodis01.ARPA (Jim Palmer) (10/16/87)
In article <3013@whuts.UUCP> fv@whuts.UUCP (FRANKLIN) writes: > >Does anyone know the explanation for the following phenomenon? >While hiking up Cannon Mountain in New Hampshire this past weekend >I noticed some odd holes in the granite on the top of the mountain. >These holes were about 3-4 inches in diameter, about the same >amount deep and were fairly circular in appearance. >They appeared to be randomly placed (?) around one part of the >mountain. There were no buildings or man made objects nearby >that could explain their existence. I thought they may >have been either core sample or anchor holes for some structure >but their shallowness disproved this. One theory I was kicking >around was that they may have been caused by lightning. >Has anyone seen these elsewhere or know what may have caused >them? > Thanks in advance >-- >DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed Scott R. Franklin ME! YES! In the late 1800s the Mormons built their Salt Lake Temple of granite obtained from the local mountains. The technique used to quarry it was to spend all summer drilling vertical holes about a foot deep into the rock, then fill the holes with water. Over the long cold winter the water would freeze, thus expanding and splitting the rock. I have seen many of these holes while treking through the Wasatch mountains. They are usually found in rows and in a well defined area. Not all are vertical as some of the rocks have rolled around a bit during the last century. You say you observed "randomly placed (?)" holes. Since you mention they were mostly in one area I'd say they were man made. The fact that the holes were found on the top of the mountain is really weird. Perhaps the split off boulders were designed to roll down the mountain, setting off snow avalanches so that the area could be safely skied? (Do I need a ;-) here? Jim Palmer - Manufacturers And Gov't Interconnected by Computers (It's MAGIC!) There are two types of people: /###\ ARPA: palmer@oodis01.arpa Good People and Bad People. @ o o @ UUCP: seismo!lognet2!oodis01!palmer The former define the latter. \ L / or: ihnp4!styx!oodis01!palmer
landauer%morocco@Sun.COM (Doug Landauer) (10/17/87)
> These holes were about 3-4 inches in diameter, about the same > amount deep and were fairly circular in appearance. This sounds like an exact description of the "mortar holes" that were created by the native Americans for grinding acorns (one of their primary foods, at least in California) into meal. For those of you in California, one of the best places to see examples of these mortar holes is at Indian Grinding Rock State Park, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. (Just north of CA-88, about 10 miles east of Jackson.) -- Doug Landauer Sun Microsystems, Inc. ARPA Internet: landauer@sun.com Software Products Division UUCP: {amdahl, decwrl, hplabs, seismo, ...}!sun!landauer
steve@nuchat.UUCP (Steve Nuchia) (10/17/87)
I waited to see if anyone who could spell inhomogenaities would answer this, but no luck. :-) In article <3013@whuts.UUCP>, fv@whuts.UUCP (FRANKLIN) writes: > Does anyone know the explanation for the following phenomenon? > While hiking up Cannon Mountain in New Hampshire this past weekend > I noticed some odd holes in the granite on the top of the mountain. > These holes were about 3-4 inches in diameter, about the same > amount deep and were fairly circular in appearance. > They appeared to be randomly placed (?) around one part of the > mountain. There were no buildings or man made objects nearby > that could explain their existence. I thought they may > have been either core sample or anchor holes for some structure > but their shallowness disproved this. One theory I was kicking > around was that they may have been caused by lightning. > Has anyone seen these elsewhere or know what may have caused them? Similar structures can occur in almost any exposed rock. Small inclusions of weaker material often assume a spherical shape in the deep rock. When the rock is exposed and begins to weather, the inclusions become exopsed. Once the sphere is open to the weather it erodes very rapidly and leaves a semispherical pit. There are some formations where the difference in hardness is sufficient (gas in volcanic rocks is the extreme example) to leave pits with undercut edges - more than halh the sphere still submerged. These surfaces are rather uncomfortable to walk on, since the edges can be pretty sharp. An inclusion in granite wouldn't have to be too soft to be eroded ahead of the matrix - perhaps just a local deficiency of some constituent substance? Disclaimer - I'm just guessing in the case of granite. Igneous and Sedementary rocks have these things - Metamorphic I don't know. I should shut up now. -- Steve Nuchia | [...] but the machine would probably be allowed no mercy. uunet!nuchat!steve | In other words then, if a machine is expected to be (713) 334 6720 | infallible, it cannot be intelligent. - Alan Turing, 1947
peter@sugar.UUCP (Peter da Silva) (10/19/87)
I suppose they couldn't have been cut for the purpose of taking samples, or were they obviously natural... frex, not all of the same size? -- -- Peter da Silva `-_-' ...!hoptoad!academ!uhnix1!sugar!peter -- Disclaimer: These U aren't mere opinions... these are *values*.