- #1
DaveC426913
Gold Member
- 22,432
- 6,106
The article below is tainted with the silliness of woo, but the phenomenon is quite natural - and way cool.
It's a tropical verson of an ice circle.
I found ice circles hard to believe at first, but I watched a small-scale simulation on an artificial river with just the right flow rate and just the right temperatures for ice accumulation. Indeed, it forms just as expected.
But now, it seems ice isn't the only substance that can perform this feat. It appears floating vegetation can result in the same phenomenon.
Here it is on Google (zoom way in):
https://www.google.com.ar/maps/@-34.2520409,-58.831072,874m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=es
So, a slow-moving river is surely flowing through this pond, and vegetation has piled up on its surface. The "island" has been accumulating flotsam, (and possibly growing, I don't know). As it turns, protrusions are discouraged by brushing against the shoreline, whereas empty spaces are free to fill with growth (or accumulation). The result is a floating, slowly rotating island.
As I said, I've left this link till the end because it's tainted with woo.
http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2016/08/the-search-for-the-mysterious-round-island-that-moves/
It's a tropical verson of an ice circle.
I found ice circles hard to believe at first, but I watched a small-scale simulation on an artificial river with just the right flow rate and just the right temperatures for ice accumulation. Indeed, it forms just as expected.
But now, it seems ice isn't the only substance that can perform this feat. It appears floating vegetation can result in the same phenomenon.
Here it is on Google (zoom way in):
https://www.google.com.ar/maps/@-34.2520409,-58.831072,874m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=es
So, a slow-moving river is surely flowing through this pond, and vegetation has piled up on its surface. The "island" has been accumulating flotsam, (and possibly growing, I don't know). As it turns, protrusions are discouraged by brushing against the shoreline, whereas empty spaces are free to fill with growth (or accumulation). The result is a floating, slowly rotating island.
As I said, I've left this link till the end because it's tainted with woo.
http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2016/08/the-search-for-the-mysterious-round-island-that-moves/