Strange formations

Aysgarth

I have always been fascinated by surface features. Here at Aysgarth there are some 'depressions' which are smooth and circular. One explanation as to how they have arisen is that small pebbles which are harder than the main rock get caught a

nd swirled around in a circular fashion as the water rises and falls.

I am not impressed by this 'explanation'. It seems to me that these holes are better explained by assuming that when these rocks formed there were softer objects (possibly plant or animal life or maybe softer rock) which were caught in the rapidly forming rocks. When the waters that carried these sediments eventually settled leaving the

rocks to harden, the softer objects whether they be the dead remains plants or animals of or just softer rock would then be washed out or may have rotted away in time.

Cocklawburn Beach

This next photograph was taken at Cocklawburn beach near Berwick-upon-Tweed. It shows not depressions but 'lumps'. Around this area are all sorts of fossils including marine and worm-like animals. Perhaps when the waters that carried these sediments eventually formed there were slowly falling deposits that covered the agglomeration of rocks and other soon-to-be fossilised fossils.

Embleton Bay

At Embleton Bay on the east coast south of Berwick-upon-Tweed there is a very curious set of rocks which can only be described as a flat base with roughly circular 'holes' which have a textured undercut base:

I think that it is quite obvious that these rocks and their 'holes' all formed at one and the same time. Perhaps when the rocks were being formed certain creatures were caught up and squashed into the settling rocks. Later on the decaying creatures were washed away leaving these formations. The textured base of the holes are probably the remains of the creature's surface form.