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From: ftg@gatech.edu (Gary Peterson)
Newsgroups: rec.misc,sci.misc
Subject: Re: Holes in Granite
Message-ID: <16374@gatech.edu>
Date: Fri, 16-Oct-87 10:54:02 EDT
Article-I.D.: gatech.16374
Posted: Fri Oct 16 10:54:02 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 17-Oct-87 20:31:21 EDT
References: <3013@whuts.UUCP> <1471@mmm.UUCP>
Organization: School of Information and Computer Science, Georgia Tech, Atlanta
Lines: 24
Keywords: granite, lightning, mountain
Summary: stone mtn. holes ARE lighting caused
Xref: mnetor rec.misc:519 sci.misc:568



While on a recent "hike" up Georgia's infamous Stone Mtn.,
the holes were pointed out to me by a long time resident
with lightning as the explanation. The holes were 3-6" across
but mostly less than 2" deep. The distribution of the holes
support the lightning explanation as they were clustered
mostly along locally higher areas (anything 6" higher
than anything within a couple feet). There were virtually none
in shallow depressions and none at all in deep ones, ruling
out flowing water (which is a temporary phenomenon on
a bare moutaintop.  Stone Mtn. is a very homogenous monolith,
inclusions are not to be seen anywhere on the exposed top.

Given all the evidence, including the local climate's
preponderance of storms, I cannot think of any explanation
that comes even close to lightning. To prove this would require
registering all holes over a large area and re-checking after
a large thunderstorm. (I think eliminating an attempt
to actually WATCH for strikes during a storm is wise.)
A mid-size lightning strike has more than enough energy
to vaporize 100 cm3 of granite.

ftg