Latest news with #rarephenomenon
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Incredible sand formation spotted on Aussie beach
A dog walker was 'amazed' by this rare phenomenon that appeared on an Aussie beach, and experts say the spectacle would have likely materialised in milliseconds. Sybil Robertson spotted the sprawling sand formation at Ocean Beach on Tasmania's west coast, telling Yahoo News, 'it was as big as a couple of tables, big eight-seater dining room-sized.' Professor Patrick Hesp, an expert in coastal geomorphology, explained that sand dunes can 'get quite significant sheet wash. This means the water is flowing across the surface and washing a fan of sand down.' He added that 'on occasions, [the process is] more localised, and it produces these saturated flows that just lose all of their water suddenly and stop in place.' When Sybil returned to Ocean Beach just days later, the intricate sand formation was completely gone. Video transcript A dog walker was amazed by this rare phenomenon that appeared on an Aussie beach, and experts say that the spectacle would have likely materialised in milliseconds. Sybil Robertson spotted the sprawling sand formation at Ocean Beach on Tasmania's west coast, telling Yahoo News it was as big as a couple of tables, big, eight-seater dining room sized. Professor Patrick Hess, an expert in coastal geomorphology. explained that sand dunes can get quite significant sheet wash. This means the water is flowing across the surface and washing a fan of sand down. He added that on occasions, the process is more localised and it produces these saturated flows that just lose all of their water suddenly and stop in place. When Sybil returned to Ocean Beach just days later, the intricate sand formation was completely gone.
National Post
18-06-2025
- Science
- National Post
Black iceberg spotted off Labrador could be result of an asteroid strike
A rare black iceberg photographed off the coast of Labrador has been making the rounds of social media on this planet, but its unusual colour could be the result of it carrying material from another world. Article content The picture first surfaced last month after a fish harvester from Carbonear, N.L., took a photo of it while fishing for shrimp last month. Article content Article content Hallur Antoniussen, 64, was working aboard the Saputi, a factory freezer trawler operated by the Qikiqtaaluk Fisheries Corporation, off the coast of Labrador in mid-May, when he spotted the black berg. Article content Article content 'I have seen icebergs that are rolled, what they say have rolled in the beach with some rocks in it,' he told CBC Radio's Labrador Morning show. 'This one here is completely different. It's not only that he is all black. He is almost … in a diamond shape.' Article content Article content He took his picture from about six kilometres away, estimating the size of the visible portion at about three times that of a bungalow home. That would mean a submerged portion equal to about 27 more bungalows. Article content 'It's something you don't see very often, and a camera is not something I run around (with) when I'm working,' Antoniussen told the CBC. 'So I just ran to my room and took my phone and snapped this picture.' Article content Comments peppered his Facebook post, suggesting that the colour was toxic gas trapped in ice, or perhaps a rare mineral. Once the photo began circulating more widely — news organizations in Britain, Israel, India, Italy and elsewhere have written about it — the theories grew wilder. Article content A story Monday in Vice magazine opened with the headline: 'That Ominous Black Iceberg Probably Isn't a Sign From the Aliens,' clearly not willing to rule out extraterrestrials entirely. Article content Article content But the truth could actually be in a similar vein. Dr. Lev Tarasov, a Memorial University physicist and glacial earth systems modeller, told the CBC that the berg's hue likely came from the glacier from which it calved picking up rocks and dirt on its way to the sea. Article content Article content 'There's parts of the ice that are actually flowing up to 20 kilometres per year, which would mean that … the ice is moving maybe a few metres every hour,' he said. Article content They pick up rocks and dirt along the way. Some of that debris could have come from volcanic ash from an eruption in Greenland or Iceland. And some could have come from outer space. Article content Back in 2018, scientists from the University of Alaska Fairbanks using ice-penetrating radar discovered a 31-kilometre impact crater in northwestern Greenland, formed by an asteroid strike. It would have been relatively recent in geological terms, perhaps 11,000 years ago, or as far back as a few million. Article content Tarasov estimated some some of the ice in the berg is at least 1,000 years old, but that it could be much more ancient, perhaps as old as 100,000 years. Either way, the dirt that gives it its colour probably hasn't seen the 'light of day for hundreds of thousands of years.'
