Discover more from My Gaia
Close by a small creek in our woods, a boulder lies partly buried in earth. It is the oldest being on this land.
River Birches shoot up around it. Mosses and lichens cover it like skin. In springtime, a hollow near it fills with water, and pollywogs hatch.
Half a million years ago, a glacier dropped it here.
A granite boulder 10 feet in diameter could weigh 100 tons. I can only guess wildly at how deep and wide this one’s root reaches into the earth.
Glacial till
With its blade of ice, the glacier scraped southward a thousand miles before it reached our Iowa land. It pushed up and carried along all that lay in its path. When it melted at last, its load of jumbled dirt and rocks remained on the ground. This material, called glacial till, covered the land 50 to 200 feet deep.
Somewhere in that depth was this boulder. It lay buried for 100,000 years or more.
The glacier belonged to the Pre-Illinoian glaciation, which lasted from 2.5 million years ago to half a million years ago. Here in southern Iowa, it was our most recent ice age. When it ended, flowing water shaped the land, cutting channels through the soil and rocks. Ravines appeared and deepened. As the surface washed away, the crown of this boulder appeared above ground.
A big rock left behind like this is called a glacial erratic. Iowa and the Midwest are littered with them. Unknown numbers still lie beneath the soil.
When Michael and I walk through the woods, we pause at this rock. We listen to the bird songs, the leaves in the wind, and the underlying silence.
We call it the Listening Rock.
I really enjoy looking at lichen. It fascinates me. Listening Rock is a perfect name for your special place.
You (and Mike) rock!! I'm thankfull to be part of your Gaia Life! Happy Days to you both.