June 29th, 2016: Big Stone River

[xoxoxoBruce]

The Big Stone River is a path of huge boulders flowing down the Taganay mountains in the Southern Urals territory of Chelyabinsk
Oblast, Russia. This river of rock is 6km(3.73 miles) long, and up to 700m(2300ft) wide but averaging 200m(656ft) wide.
Unlike Moon River this river is hard rock. These jagged boulders weighing up to 10 tons, piled 6m(20ft) deep, are quartzite with
aventurine inclusions which give it a shimmering effect.

The gigantic rock slide is believed to have occurred during the last glaciation some 10,000 years ago(10,000years).
At that time, glaciers covered the top of the ridges of the Taganay mountains reaching heights up to 4,800 meters(14750ft).
Under the immense weight of this ice, the top of the mountain was pulverized into millions of large boulders. When the ice
melted away, these rocks slowly slide down the hill creating the Big Stone River. The geological feature is named “river” only
because it resembles as such, not because it actually flows. The rock slide has been sitting motionless for thousands of years.

Yet there’s no vegetation.

Interestingly, as one approaches the Big Stone River, the crisp sound of running water can be heard. The sound is produced
by small streams running under the rocks.

So there’s water under there, it’s strange no trees or even vines have managed to sneak up through the rocks. Can the light be
blocked out completely? Maybe there’s critters under there that eat anything that tries.

Outside of Russia, several stone rivers can be found in the Vitosha Mountain, in Bulgaria. One of the largest extends over
2 km(1.25miles) in length is located on the Subalpine plateaus at the Zlatnite Mostove (‘Golden Bridges’) site in the upper
course of Vladayska River. Another stone river in Vitoshka Bistritsa River valley is up to 300 m(984 ft) wide, and other stone
run formations sprawl even wider on the mountain slopes.

These stones must be softer as they’re rounder.

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