Originally posted by zorgon
Can you describe or provide evidence on the natural forces that would create such precision angles an flat surface on that scale? Would be
appreciates. Thanks
Zorgon,
You're thinking of it the wrong way. The stone in this formation was not eroded into these shapes, it broke into these shapes. (It's called
cleavage - sounds more enticing now, doesn't it? LOL)
Schoch noted vertical cleavage in the stone that remains - throughout it, IIRC. As you know, there is natural horizontal cleavage in any sedimendary
rock because of the way it is formed through, ahem, sedimentation. Sandstone - which is a form of limestone- is sedimentary.
When you have both horizontal and vertical cleavage, you get these kinds of shapes.
BTW, Schoch also noted that the flora carpeting the underwater formation gave it a much more "level" look. This adds greatly to the illusion of
manufacture.
Check the pic at this Nat Geo webpage. It shows one of the areas I'm talking about.
Nat Geo Pic of the week some good while back
Look, obviously, the formation that is off the coast is not attached to the island by a chain of similar "cut-looking" stone. This means that the
area between the island and the formation was not the same kind of deposit. Sedimentary stone varies greatly over just a few feet in many cases.
Similarly, on the island, there will be areas that are
also not of the same deposit.
So, you can find examples of both sorts of geomorphology on the island.
This is not unusual. You can find different geomorphologies within the Sphinx enclosure at Giza and that is far smaller than either Yonaguni-Jima or
the offshore formation.
Anyway, the current thought is that the formation weathered that way before it sank below the sea. It was not flooded by the ice age. Professor
Kimura has determined that it sank due to vulcanism around the same time as the destruction of Pompeii
All this info has been posted many, many times before right here at ATS.
Harte