Rocking stone

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As a wobble- or swing stones ( English Rocking stones ) are mostly by deposition or weathering referred resulting phenomena in rocks, the easily movable (metastable) balance on its base. They are formed preferentially from granitic outcrop rock as a late phenomenon of wool sack weathering , less often from horizontally banked sedimentary rocks.

First of all, the weathering processes widen the primarily created fracture systems in the rock until the rock complex breaks down into individual blocks over time, which are then gradually eroded - more and more broken up. In rare cases, larger individual blocks are retained in an exposed "wobbly" position. A type of shape similar to the rocking stone is the mushroom rock .

The astonishing mobility of the balanced, often huge masses led in many places to the emergence of myths and legends in which such stones play an essential role, for example as oracles or "toys" of giants .

Another genus are rocking stones created by human activities. In Ganløse Eged , a 167 hectare forest on the Danish island of Zealand , the stone of a Langdysse ( dolmen ) has been turned into a rocking stone.

Known rocking stones

Argentina

In Argentina you can find the "swinging stone" in the Sierra de Tandil .

Denmark

Wobble stones ( Danish : Rokkesten ) are boulders left behind in large numbers by the last Ice Age, for example three on Bornholm . Most of the rocking stones no longer move.

  • There are many erratic boulders in Rutsker Højlyng , including a rocking stone weighing over 20 tons, which, however, last wobbled in the 1960s.
  • In the Paradisbakkerne (paradise hills) on Bornholm you will find the Rokkestenen , the most famous rocking stone in Denmark , which was placed under nature protection as early as 1894, although with its 25 tons it had already ceased its activities 25 years earlier. In 2000 it was successfully awakened and strong visitors have made it shake again ever since.
  • Rokkestenen is the name of a megalithic complex near Hillerød , on Zealand , whose capstone wobbles.
  • There were also many in Djævedalen (the Devil's Valley ), near Almindingen on Bornholm, but none of them wobbled in the last 50 years. In contrast, an active boulder was discovered at Vettesmose in the 1990s.

Germany

The rocking stone of the Externsteine , which was fortified in the early 19th century, is known nationwide in Germany. Near Loh in the municipality of Saldenburg in the Bavarian Forest there is a 50-ton rocking stone. The Wackelstein on the Kornberg in the Fichtelgebirge is a real colossus . A typical rocking stone is the one near Voitmannsdorf (Franconian Switzerland). Another rocking stone is on the potter in the Zittau Mountains .

France

Corsica

In Corsica, rock castles, bell mountains, sacrificial kettles and tafonis are common features of the landscape. The "Omu di Cagna" (man from Cagna) is a typical rocking stone.

Great Britain

  • Rocking stones

  • Cuff Hill Ayrshire

  • Witch's Stone East Ayrshire

  • Rhinns of Kells Lugar stone

  • Lugar rocking stone

Italy

From the Naturalis historia of the ancient Roman Pliny , the Sasso al Menicante on Monte Cimino is known as a rocking stone. Today it is in the immediate vicinity of the summit car park, but no longer wobbles.

Austria

Poland

A very beautiful rocking stone can be found in the Giant Mountains near Schreiberhau / Szklarska Poręba . It is around 5 m × 3 m wide and 1.5 m thick and can be moved up and down around ten centimeters.

Sweden

The Runkesten near Vimmerby in Sweden is about four meters wide, ten meters long and five meters high. It is considered to be one of the world's largest rocking stones, which can be rocked back and forth five to ten centimeters using human strength alone.

Switzerland

In Switzerland there is the Druidenstein above Lake Lucerne near Morschach .

In Graubünden , about 100 meters above the village of Verdabbio , there is a rocking stone.

Czech Republic

In the Czech Jizera Mountains there is a rocking stone ( location ) on the Mitteliserkamm between Groß-Iser and Klein-Iser / Jizerka above the manure house .

67P / Churyumov-Gerasimenko

By means of the probe Rosetta was on the comet discovered "Tschury" a rock fragments with 30 m size, balancing on such a small area and at the edge of a recess is that believed to be manually - for locally very low acceleration of gravity to bring the wobbling - would.

literature

  • Siegmund Günther: Investigations into rocking stones and related denudation phenomena, session reports of the Royal Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Mathematical-Physical Class, 8th treatise. 1909.
  • Herbert Wilhelmy: Climate morphology of the mass rocks. Akademie-Verlagsgesellschaft, Wiesbaden 1981, ISBN 3-400-00446-4 .

Web links

Commons : Balanced rocks  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://filetsbleus.free.fr/retros/legendepierre.htm
  2. ↑ Online article on gerungs.at , accessed on October 7, 2011
  3. ^ The Megalithic Portal
  4. ↑ Runkesten at vimmerby.com (updated Nov. 2015)
  5. ↑ Description at erratiker.ch ( Memento of the original from July 26, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed July 26, 2016 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.erratiker.ch
  6. ^ "Rosetta" discovered "Wackelstein" on comets. ORF.at, May 18, 2015. Retrieved May 18, 2015.