Mystery Marks along the Vermilion River
October 22, 2014
I’d never before seen these gashes in the shale riverbank when I came across them September 28. The gash that runs horizontally is around eight inches long. They don’t look as if they have been gouged recently, and they may not have been gouged at all. My best guess is that they are holes left when something dissolved out of the shale as it was hardening from mudstone. Norrie Robbins identified much smaller—half an inch—but similar holes that I found nearby as where a salt dissolved out of the rock, so I’m extending her explanation here. Does anyone have another idea?
Romancing Reality 
Very strange, Linda. Whatever the cause, they add interest and contrast to the leaves that have fallen and lodged here.
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October 23, 2014 at 2:03 PM
Thanks, Andy. One friend suggested bear-claw marks, but I’m quite sure there are no bears along this river. And she was kidding.
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October 23, 2014 at 2:19 PM