Stonehenge 181
Image by Rhiannon
Stonehenge

New theories — A River ran by the Avenue.

slumpystones S
slumpystones Mar 19, 2007 11:45:46
Replying to dupisha

dupisha wrote:
no. what can you tell me? why is there mud at the bottom of those gullies? and why is it sooooo, improbable?
Because the river valley you suppose existed does not go anywhere - there is no river source, and the valley is deeper than that cut out by the Avon!

Google Earth is very nice, but it does cause you to see things without perspective. Save up the cash, come to the UK and see it for yourself - nothing comes close to seeing the way the landscape is laid out in 3D.

J jimit
jimit Mar 19, 2007 16:49:42
Replying to slumpystones

Peter,
Looking at my Ordnance Survey map (Explorer 130, order one from your local bookshop) I find that the end of the straight part of the Avenue is on an 85M OD contour line. This marks the end of a blind valley ending at Lake about 3 Km to the south. These dry valleys are very very common all over the chalk landscapes of S England and only flowed with large amounts of water during and just after the last Ice Age. Now, and during the construction of Stonehenge, there are/were no rivers on Salisbury Plain (The Avon skirts the E edge) only small streams which dry up during the summer. Any rain that falls sinks quickly down to the water table.
Jim.

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