Abstract
DURING my recent visit to South-West Patagonia, in 1899, for excavations in the remarkable Glosso-therium or Neomylodon Cave near the farm Puerto Consuelo or Eberhardt, I made, with my fellow traveller, Dr. O. Borge, the following curious observation. Whilst rowing in the long and narrow channel of Ultima Esperansa, to study the plankton, we observed, when the sea was calm or only agitated by a slight swell, small fragments of slate which floated upon the surface packed together in larger or smaller clusters. They drove hither and thither in the neighbourhood of the shore, until they were driven away by the strong current which at intervals swept forward in the channel. The quantity was considerable; for instance, 700 of them were obtained at one cast of the net in a few minutes. The stones had evidently drifted out from the beach, which consisted mainly of similar stone fragments washed off from the cliffs composed of a bituminous mesozoic slate. The surface of the stones was dry, and they sank immediately when it became wet by touching or by the movement of the swell.
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NORDENSKIOLD, E. Floating Stones . Nature 61, 278 (1900). https://doi.org/10.1038/061278a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/061278a0