Krishna's Butterball

[User Name]

That link has nothing to do with the rock we are looking at.

No, but it provides an explanation for how glaciers cause erratics and balancing rock formations.

You think there was once a glacier in southern India. What are you basing this idea upon? How long ago was this?

See here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_age#Major_ice_ages

How did the glacier move on flat terrain?

Gravity-based self-induced flow. "Glaciers move by internal deformation and basal sliding. Ice masses flow across flat terrain as well as down slopes. Only after an ice mass has attained a size, thickness, and configuration that produces enough stress to cause it to flow as a solid or to slip over its base is it considered a glacier." -- http://www2.nature.nps.gov/views/KCs/Glaciers/HTML/ET_Intro.htm

How was the rock rounded?

Various processes of erosion.

Incidentally, the rock upon which "Krishna's Butter Ball" sits appears to me to show some evidence of glacial striation and/or glacial polish.

How has it remained in place in the period of transition from ice age to today?

It is "held in place by static friction and the stability of its lopsided shape," as I quoted someone earlier.

 

[User Name]

Could have been rolled/moved there by a horde of men as some sort of worship??? Kind of how they got the stones for stonehenge by transporting them there, if they rolled the stone it would account for the round shape & it may have had a piece break off along the journey.

The largest Stonehenge rocks weigh about 25 tons. According to the estimates I can find on the net, Krishna's Butter Ball is estimated to weigh over 250 tons. Its weight, combined with the fact that it stands on an extremely small base (the point of contact is allegedly less than 4' base on a slippery hill) makes it extremely unlikely that it was rolled into place by man:

Krishna's Butter Ball

​

 

[User Name]

Hoodoo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoodoo_(geology)

Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah_Wilderness_Study_Area

You learn something new every day...

 

[Stripe]

It provides an explanation for how glaciers cause erratics and balancing rock formations.

You are unjustified in assuming glacier, given the evidence against the notion.

See here:

Which of those ice ages are you hanging your hat on?

"Glaciers move by internal deformation and basal sliding. Ice masses flow across flat terrain as well as down slopes. Only after an ice mass has attained a size, thickness, and configuration that produces enough stress to cause it to flow as a solid or to slip over its base is it considered a glacier.

So this glacier of yours had to be massive — practically a continent-wide sheet.

Various processes of erosion.

Which means what? We've already seen that glaciers do a horrible job of rounding rocks.

Hoodoo: Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah:

These have nothing to do with our rock.

 

[Stripe]

Here is what rocks from a glacier typically look like:

Spoiler

Iceland

​

 

[quip]

That's that unmovable boulder god created but ..... lain:

 

[User Name]

You are unjustified in assuming glacier, given the evidence against the notion.

Which of those ice ages are you hanging your hat on?

So this glacier of yours had to be massive — practically a continent-wide sheet.

The Cryogenian period may have produced a Snowball Earth in which glacial ice sheets reached the equator. -- http://www.meteo.mcgill.ca/~tremblay/Courses/ATOC530/Hyde.et.al.Nature.2000.pdf

Incidentally, the rock upon which "Krishna's Butter Ball" sits appears to me to show some evidence of glacial striation and/or glacial polish.

 

[User Name]

In the event that glacial ice is "rafted" by a flood such as that created when the ice dam broke during the Missoula Floods, the erratics are deposited where the ice finally releases its debris load. One of the more unusual examples is found far from its origin in Idaho at Erratic Rock State Natural Site just outside McMinnville, Oregon. The park includes a 40-short-ton (36 t) specimen, the largest erratic found in the Willamette Valley. -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glacial_erratic#Flood-borne_erratics

 

[Stripe]

The Cryogenian period may have produced a Snowball Earth in which glacial ice sheets reached the equator.

So this is the glacier you're hanging your hat on?

Incidentally, the rock upon which "Krishna's Butter Ball" sits appears to me to show some evidence of glacial striation and/or glacial polish

No striation and any ice polishing from 600 million years ago would be long gone.

Not to mention that nothing about the area shows anything resembling post-glacial terrain.

And you seem to be completely ignoring what shape rocks glaciers produce.

 

[chair]

We don't have enough information to know how that rock got there. Nor do we have enough information to know what Stripes purpose in this thread is.

 

[Stripe]

We don't have enough information to know how that rock got there.

You can look at the evidence and rule out ideas. The remaining options will be fairly limited.

It's called science. :up:

Nor do we have enough information to know what Stripe's purpose in this thread is.

To do your punctuation for you?

No. I simply asked a couple of questions. Determining my motivation is fairly irrelevant.

 

[Stripe]

In analyzing the manner in which this rock arrived where it did...

...there are some observations that make certain factors necessary.

First, the break means something.

Second, its roundedness means something.
​

 

[chair]

You can look at the evidence and rule out ideas. The remaining options will be fairly limited.

It's called science. :up:.

If you think this parlor game is science, you are badly mistaken. But enjoy the game!

 

[Stripe]

If you think this parlor game is science, you are badly mistaken. But enjoy the game!

:wave2:

 

[quip]

We don't have enough information to know how that rock got there. Nor do we have enough information to know what Stripes purpose in this thread is.

Tripe's purpose for this thread is to satiate his brand of ignorance ad populum.

Moral: "It must be God" i.e. Ignorance Loves Company.

 

[CRASH]

I think water put it there.

 

[User Name]

So this is the glacier you're hanging your hat on?

Not necessarily. I was just pointing out that glaciation apparently did occur in that area in the distant past. There are still glaciers in northern India today: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_glaciers_of_India

No striation and any ice polishing from 600 million years ago would be long gone.

I said that the rock upon which the Butter Ball rests "shows evidence" of glacial striation and/or glacial polish. Yes, it has been eroded considerably, and I'm no expert and I could be wrong, but that's what I think it might be.

Not to mention that nothing about the area shows anything resembling post-glacial terrain.

You know as well as I do that the current terrain does not resemble the terrain as it existed when this rock was laid down. If you watched the video I posted earlier, you'd know that most of that ancient terrain has been buried by subsequent inflows of sand and soil. There's no telling what's under there.

And you seem to be completely ignoring what shape rocks glaciers produce.

You seem to be ignoring glacial erratics.

 

[Stripe]

Not necessarily. I was just pointing out that glaciation apparently did occur in that area in the distant past.

You opened by saying the most recent glacier put the rock there, now you're unwilling to hang your hat on the most recent glacier said to have run through there.

There are still glaciers in northern India today.

:darwinsm:

This contributes nothing to your insistence that there was a glacier in Mahabalipuram.

I said that the rock upon which the Butter Ball rests "shows evidence" of glacial striation and/or glacial polish.

I know. There is no striation and any polish would be long gone.

Yes, it has been eroded considerably.

And how do you think the rock stayed in place amid this "considerable" erosion over hundreds of millions of years?

I'm no expert and I could be wrong, but that's what I think it might be.

You don't need to be an expert, you just need to adhere to physical necessity as dictated by the evidence. There is no evidence of a glacier.

If you watched the video I posted earlier, you'd know that most of that ancient terrain has been buried by subsequent inflows of sand and soil.

There is no way to have a net inflow of sand and soil onto an area such as this. Any processes would remove as much material as it would introduce, otherwise the place would have been a seabed.

There's no telling what's under there.

There is nothing buried that would provide evidence for your glacier notion.

You seem to be ignoring glacial erratics.

If you had even one piece of evidence for a glacier, your erratic argument might be worth considering. However, you haven't got any and are ignoring the facts.

 

[chair]

Obviously this boulder got where it is in a major flood, that took place about 5,000 years ago. All cheer Stripe, who has an answer to everything!

Based on this "rock"-solid evidence, I will become a Christian, believe only the Bible (in the translation of my choice!) and admit that all science is false.

Anybody know how you can return a doctorate to a university?
Do I need to buy a fish to stick on my car? Or wear an instrument of torture and execution around my neck? I'd rather not- it seems so vulgar- but one must move with the Truth (TM).

 

[Stripe]

Obviously this boulder got where it is in a major flood.

Do you have any idea how much water it would take to move a rock like that and how fast it would have to be flowing?