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In connection with picture #25476, here's a shot, taken last week, of another part of the mystery thing. It's within a ten-minute, mostly uphill walk from my back door in Stromness. I'm off sooth for a wee while, but I'd be happy to see a good answer on my return. (Or maybe I'll take a laptop with me and stay in touch.)
Picture added on 23 August 2011 at 16:31
This picture is in the following groups
Mystery places or things or people
Mystery places or things or people
Maybe I'm flogging a dead horse, but it's hard to believe there isn't a single OIL viewer with some knowledge of this mysterious phenomenon. It's bugged me for decades; I'd love to know what it is and how it came about. Any offers?
Added by Ian Hourston on 13 August 2012
It could well be calcite filling in natural splits in the rock.
Added by Neil Johnstone on 14 August 2012
is it not a seam of Basalt squeezed between the rock when it was in a molten state .. a whiley back..
Added by Jimmy Hamilton on 14 August 2012
Thanks Neil, but would natural splits be so 'geometric'? I wonder whose permission one would have to get to take a trowel and try to uncover more of it. I'm keen to know if that right-angled triangle is complete!
Added by Ian Hourston on 15 August 2012
Could it be quartz. The side opposite the "right" angle appears to follow natural seams.
It would be worth asking John Flett Brown's opinion.
It would be worth asking John Flett Brown's opinion.
Added by Jim Corse on 19 August 2012
The quartz on the hypotenuse might be equal to the sum of the quartz on the other two sides, eh Jim? Actually I was hoping Dr Brown might be a viewer of this site and have a theory (or theorem) to share with us.
Added by Ian Hourston on 21 August 2012
Professor Iain Stewart would be the man to know, his tv programmes on geology and the like are excellent.
Added by Chris Shearer on 21 August 2012
Most likely all granite of the same age, cooling fractures or cracks filled with new molten material which is slightly more resistant to weathering. the pattern of these fractures tends to be 'geometric' due to the regular crystalline structure of the rock.
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Added by Dave Smith on 24 August 2012
Stromness
Its location is in the 'Rocky Park', close to the small quarry beside the track up to Brinkie's Brae. The roughly geometrical patterns are raised above the surrounding granitic rock and have, to my eye at least, the appearance of neither natural nor man-made phenomena. So please comment if you know what they are, or have an interesting theory.