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Sunday 1 November 2015

Gorse bush rockbuster


This is what happens sometimes when a gorse bush manages to insinuate its roots into a fracture in a boulder of volcanic ash.  (Photo from Gernos-fawr, not far from Gelli-fawr. Cwm Gwaun)

The root system has expanded and has busted the rock apart.  This is what is happening all over the rocky crag at Rhosyfelin.  Gorse is of course far more effective at quarrying than Neolithic man ever was......

3 comments:

Myris of Alexandria said...

Oh dear I thought pastoral romanticism went out in the late 19th century.
Brian be an Angel and don't mix your romantic fictions with science.
We will be up to our eyes in Ents next.
Still it has me humming Sheath and Knife.
M

BRIAN JOHN said...

PASTORAL ROMANTICISM??!! This is pure science, Myris. No romanticism anywhere in sight. Roots expand in cracks and force rocks apart. Is that a problem?

Myris of Alexandria said...

No it is the pitting of man against nature in the guise of a mighty broom.
Sheer Fantasia. Bom de bom, de bomdidibom etc.
The only time I have seen quarrying by broom was at Temple Newsom opencast coal mine 30 years ago.
M