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Ivan Seeking
Jan9-08, 07:27 PM
http://www.coasttocoastam.com/gen/page2381.html?theme=light

My first thought was that it may be an ant hill, but the photographer says it was a rock. I would still think it to be a petrified something?

waht
Jan9-08, 08:11 PM
This area was certainly underwater. I suppose a vortex formed which grinded a funnel into the rock formation over eons. The river is pretty stagnant, but there were times when a rush of water from melted glacial dams flooded the area with intense surges of currents.

NoTime
Jan9-08, 08:58 PM
Kinda looks like limestone.
Perhaps a spring or possibly a steam vent.

hypatia
Jan9-08, 10:33 PM
Looks like a place where a mineral spring once flurished. I have even been to a city named Mineral Springs in ND, so its fairly common for that area.

waht
Jan10-08, 12:00 AM
A mineral spring or vent makes more sense.

matthyaouw
Jan11-08, 07:03 AM
Mineral precipitate around a spring was my first thought as well. Would be helpful to see a bit of it up close and know something about the area it was found in to say for sure.

Andre
Jan11-08, 07:28 AM
A look-alike in Yellowstone park:

http://www.naturalsciences.org/education/Yellowstone/2006/images/unusual%20hot%20spring%20at%20Mammoth%20Terraces.jpg