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Sanctuary S
Sanctuary Sep 3, 2010 12:33:37
Replying to faerygirl

faerygirl wrote:
goffik wrote:
Haha! It may be French, in places, but not necessarily in the right order! ;)

The grooves, IMHO, are just where the water has naturally flowed out of the bowl - due to gravity/mad winds/stuff I know nothing about - over gawd knows how many years...

Without the grooves, I wonder now if the "stone in a vortex" idea is what may have caused the bigger holes at my beloved Rubha Charnain in Harris (can't find the link right now cos I'm on my phone but you can find it using the search facility)

I have to say, I'm 99% sure the bowls/grooves in your pics are natural. And all the more beautiful for being so! :)

G x

Yeah once there is a little groove the movement of te water in the groove will back up on itself and make the hole much deeper- same principle as the plunge pool at the bottom of a waterfall. As its a natural structure the water will have had more than enough time to make very deep holes. Hell, The water running out of my broken drainpipe has had more than enough time to ruin my bloomin' patio (two years!)
We shouldn't underestimate the power of running water over time.
So how come all 'bowls' don't have an exit groove like the one by the Cheeswring if it's natural and that's where the overflow runs out? There are actually two more on the top stones but they are just bowls with no exit grooves but they overflow in the same manner when full....which is more often then not when you live in Cornwall.

M Mr Hamhead
Mr Hamhead Sep 3, 2010 15:39:04
Replying to Sanctuary

OK...said I would reply.
I am not a geologist but have always been led to believe that the basins were formed/eroded by water and acidity. Granite, although a very hard rock, is prone to decomposition, hence we get china clay. These basins may have started even before the rock was uncovered, the soil eating away at weak points...once the Ice Age's had been and gone the rock was exposed as the soil around dissapered in a sludgy defrosting. It was then that the elements of wind and rain got to work forming the wonderful tors and cheesewrings. The basins, prone to filling with water gradually eroded further.
The fact that many of these basins are on slabs of rock perched at acute angles shows that they were formed prior to the rock falling, ie prior to the Ice age. See the Devil's Chair on Carn Brea http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/757/carn_brea.html
and the stone on Carey Tor http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/7028/carey_tor.html
There are countless other examples in Cornwall and I am sure further afield.
The gullys I am not sure about...they are probably natural but whats to say they have not been cut to allow man to extract water from the basins.
As for the Merry Making Stone, the holes are only around 4 to 5 cms across, very much manmade and only date back to the 19th century.

Don't quote me!..it's all off the top of my head!

have a great weekend

Mr H