Learn about a fantastic rock weathering pattern

May 20, 2011 11:39 PM

Jon Boxerman is fascinated with the geological phenomena known as tafoni. (NSFTrypophobes)
posted by Casimir (31 comments total)

The weirdness and oddities in this life never cease to amaze me. Thank you for teaching me something completely new, Casimir!
posted by ninazer0 at 11:42 PM on May 20, 2011

/me clicks link
closes tab really quick
googles trypophope
learns something
rocks slowly
posted by obiwanwasabi at 11:42 PM on May 20, 2011 [2 favorites]

Have we managed to break this already?
posted by Dr Dracator at 11:54 PM on May 20, 2011

This is my hole. It was MADE FOR ME!!!
posted by anazgnos at 11:57 PM on May 20, 2011 [7 favorites]

Wayback
posted by stbalbach at 12:11 AM on May 21, 2011

A) That died pretty quickly
B) NSFTrypophobes (on view of wayback cache)
posted by delmoi at 12:28 AM on May 21, 2011

googles trypophope
learns something
rocks slowly
posted by obiwanwasabi

You might want to skip this Surinam Toad.
posted by StickyCarpet at 12:35 AM on May 21, 2011 [2 favorites]

The internet doesn't seem to want me to meet Jon Boxerman. But now I, too am fascinated with the geological phenomenon of tafoni.

If you are not mysteriously freaked out by things with holes in them, it's really beautiful, in a strange, alien way.
posted by louche mustachio at 12:48 AM on May 21, 2011

These two are having a conversation.
posted by louche mustachio at 12:54 AM on May 21, 2011 [4 favorites]

Have we managed to break this already?

If you've got JavaScript disabled you get a "Service Unavailable" error.
posted by rodgerd at 12:57 AM on May 21, 2011

Mighty, yet wistful. It's lonely at the top.
posted by louche mustachio at 1:01 AM on May 21, 2011

Things with holes in them bother me, but rock weathering patterns fascinate me. I am walking a very fine edge here.
posted by hattifattener at 1:15 AM on May 21, 2011 [1 favorite]

googles trypophope
learns something
rocks slowly

you missed this post then? Apparently, there are a number of trytophobes here.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 2:25 AM on May 21, 2011

Is there a serious difference between "weathering" and "erosion"?
posted by Mister Moofoo at 2:43 AM on May 21, 2011

See, MetaChat is good for something.
posted by Splunge at 3:26 AM on May 21, 2011

"Mighty, yet wistful. It's lonely at the top."

Is it just me that sees an animal that wants to be mounted in that rock? I really hope it isn't.
posted by Solomon at 3:36 AM on May 21, 2011 [2 favorites]

Is there a serious difference between "weathering" and "erosion"?

From what I remember about geology weathering is mainly ice, rain, hail. When rock gets wet and freezes it forms cracks. Snow or hail can be abrasive enough to chip away at rock, too.

Erosion is fluid flow like water or wind, most often bearing sand as an abrasive grit since water or wind aren't really that abrasive by themselves.
posted by loquacious at 3:40 AM on May 21, 2011

I wanted to be fascinated, but I got too squicked out.
posted by cropshy at 4:50 AM on May 21, 2011

This small image seems to show how rapidly these can happen, geologically speaking.

All the more reason for me to bring one home so I can take proper care of it.
posted by StickyCarpet at 6:10 AM on May 21, 2011

Now I have a name for all the holey rocks I had.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 6:30 AM on May 21, 2011

Is it just me that sees an animal that wants to be mounted in that rock? I really hope it isn't.

I see what you're getting at, but the wanting part may just be you. Do you ever find yourself describing inanimate objects as "slutty"?
posted by Horace Rumpole at 6:47 AM on May 21, 2011

Fuck this Trypophobe shit.
posted by BeerFilter at 6:52 AM on May 21, 2011

Cool. I didn't know what this was called - somewhere I have photos (like, the printed out kind, from film!) I took on Hornby Island where there are beautiful examples of this.
posted by rtha at 7:03 AM on May 21, 2011

I'm not scared
Immediately fleeing
posted by Mike Mongo at 7:17 AM on May 21, 2011

Horace Rumpole said: "Do you ever find yourself describing inanimate objects as "slutty""

Not out loud, no...
posted by Solomon at 8:08 AM on May 21, 2011

Huh. Tafoni, what an odd choice of names for such a beautiful geological creation. It reminds me a bit of of tofutti or an Italian dessert name like tiramisu.

Something primordial in that honeycomb design, a kind of elemental, fractal building block. Honeycomb coral.

Cool post, fun learning! Thanks, Casimir.
posted by nickyskye at 8:42 AM on May 21, 2011

Fascinating. Thanks for posting this. It also helped explain why this giant beehive excised from some Redditor's fireplace squicked me out this morning and why I have issues with gauzy fabrics.
posted by Dr. Zira at 10:27 AM on May 21, 2011

Oh. Oh god. I loved the tafoni images until I clicked on the trypophobe link, and now I can't look at anything.
posted by tickingclock at 10:42 AM on May 21, 2011

There is a lot of this in the exposed limestone in West Texas. It's hell on bare feet.
posted by Xoebe at 11:30 AM on May 21, 2011

Thanks, loquacious!
posted by Mister Moofoo at 2:18 PM on May 21, 2011

Man, it took me about a week to come down from that trypophope thread. Just reading the word "NSFTrypophobes" caused me to break out in gooseflesh.

I am not clicking that link.
posted by Hal Mumkin at 12:50 AM on May 22, 2011