Geology Picture of the Week, June 20-26, 2007: Some Ventifacts

Various

[cogitator]

Definition: "ventifact" -- A stone that has been flattened and sharpened by wind abrasion.

Three fun examples:

Jabba the Hutt's mouth (Dry Valleys, Antarctica)

Never to touch again (Antarctica)

The Furrowed Conglomerates (Argentina)

[cogitator]

It's a fact!

[cogitator]

** ping **

[Lil'freeper]

Yardaaaaaaang! great pics

[theDentist]

Jabba the Hutt’s Mouth reminds me of B.C.’s “clam” character.

[Grammy]

The first one reminds me of the clam (with legs) in B.C.

[willgolfforfood]

“Feed me, Seymore!!”

[Grammy]

((sigh))

40 seconds

Twice today I’ve had a GMTA moment.

[kidd]

Schist, those are gneiss pictures!

[Grammy]

LOL

[geezerwheezer]

Strange...but true!

[clamper1797]

Schist, those are gneiss pictures!

Please don't take them for Granite

[Fraxinus]

Please don't take them for Granite

You made me loess my train of thought.

[mtbopfuyn]

Boggles the mind. One of the formations at Arches National Park fell shortly after we visited. I swear, I had nothing to do with it!

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

If you don’t want to travel to the Antarctic or Argentina and have a desire to see strange rocks try Kansas. We’re centrally located and we took down the mountains to make it easy to get places.

These are concretions, and presumably, mostly wind formed ventifacts.

http://www.kansastravel.org/mushroomrock.htm

http://www.naturalkansas.org/rockcity.htm

Castle rocks and a fair view of the beginning of the high plains. (Alta Plano.)

http://www.washburn.edu/cas/art/cyoho/archive/KStravel/bigrocks/castle.html

(When you come drive your truck and bring some extra gasoline and your own toilet paper. You’ve been warned.)

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

The first three images here might be interesting.

http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/mooretoronto/mooretoronto.html

I don’t know where Henry got his models, but here in Kansas the women are much better looking.

http://kuathletics.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/101604aad.html?pic=4

[zerosix]

Totally agree and I can prove it w/some photos!!!

At least most of the girls coming out of Shawnee Mission (at least many schools) District or Blue Valley!!!

[43north]

The furrowed conglomerates are interesting. I have found similar boulders east of my house in the Portneuf Range of SE Idaho. Want pix?

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

The girls and their mothers. Hard not to notice when I drop my daughter off at SME.

Never a bad time to promote Kansas; wheat, beef, strange rocks, balls of twine, and barbecue.

[zerosix]

A big Amen to that one SME is right up the hill from me and you’re absolutely right about those co-eds. Best looking, healthy girls around.

[cogitator]

An otherworldly (from Mars, photographed by the Spirit rover) ventifact (just saw this today):

Clearly wind erosion (there isn't anything else!) is exposing and eroding the layers here, and some of the layered material is more resistant than the stuff in between, creating these weirdities.