Canon PowerShot G9
ƒ/4.8
44.4 mm
1/320
80
Puzzle Series: What is this, or what do you want it to be?
29 responses to “What’s That? (78)”
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A rock going SPLAT in mud. Nice timing by the way.
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Accessed through FlickrFox. (?) -
i don´t know… the only thing that comes to mind when i see it is "Ouch!". Can´t hear any of my other thoughts right now… 😉
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It looks more like a rock falling in mud-covered tar.
I hope you leave this puzzle open for at the very least 24 hours. Even if everyone gets it right, we must all get a change to try to guess.
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THIS is from "out of space" and THE proof for Panspermia theory =)
Or….you went hunting Elephant with one of your rocket..and that s the bullet hole on the skin…
But my best theory would be…this is a meteor composed of Phostlite
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That is not fair. What about the people who do not visit early? Anyway, a game should have a respected defined time limit. You have to give the chance to others to make it fun and to maintain interest. Perhaps you could always say: answer will be given after XX time next day (24 hours later).
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This looks like a tubular container made of resin, possibly a composite reinforced with (vegetal ?) fibers.
It looks as if it has been unintendedly subjected to intense heat — which softened and charred it — as well as very high internal pressure. The combined effect of heat and pressure seems to have made it rupture and burst outwards.
This vessel seems to have impacted at high velocity a fairly pliable, wet, algae-covered surface, in which it became embedded. The resin-like material on the left side seemed still hot and pliable enough to make a slight splat when it came in contact with the ground.
The rock-like artifact in the tube looks like it’s wrapped in some thin, darkened (metal ?) foil. There seems to be traces of shiny molten metal too, which makes me think that this "rock" was originally a stack of printed circuit boards or a battery pack, from which some shiny solder was molten away by a flow of hot gases.
If this was a black box / flight data recorder, I’m afraid there won’t be much data recoverable from it.Some relationship with experimental rocketry is suspected
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Yeah, I’ve seen mud like that before. It’s cool the way the folds from the impact give away the rock’s trajectory.
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A high energy impact based on the ejecta. I’m guessing a volcanic rock from on high. The bird tracks make it about 6 in. in diameter.
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I’m thinking the substance the "rock" has landed in is guano. It seems like there may be bird footprints visible.
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Could it be a shot of an algae covered tar pit? You were in La Jolia the same day that this was taken, which is about 120 miles from the Le Brea tar pits.
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Hmmm…no moving parts…
Well, at the original size it definitely looks like a rock (Kryptonite perhaps? 😉 ), and I still think it looks like a mud flat. Perhaps the rock went splat before you got there and the mud was so viscous that it held its shape. I can also see what looks like a fragment/splinter of wood in the "wave" of mud. Not sure how that fits in though. The shiny bits on the object that nhr thought were molten solder from fried circuit boards look like mud residue to me from the side that impacted.
Upon closer inspection it looks like an igneous rock…so perhaps this "rock" is a chunk of solidified/cooled lava that was thrown from a volcano at some time in the past and landed in a viscous mud flat. However, if that was the case I would have expected the fragment of organic matter (wood) to be charcoal/ash, so perhaps the splinter is a more recent addition to the puzzle.
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Seen in my recent comments. (?) -
I definitely see a tidal flat in La Jolla shoreline
but what the heck is that tarball doing there…? -
Oh, I can’t wait any longer. The tantric puzzle position imposed by the ladies is a new and interesting twist for me.
Bingo Sage of Shadowdale, a fellow geek from down under. He got most of it within 4 minutes and then nailed the finer details in his recent comment. Special credit to xouroborus who first identified it as tidal mud (he has a dog’s nose for smell).
In the San Francisco bay lands, we discovered the most unusual mud. When you throw a rock, it goes plop, but the mud’s magic viscosity creates a physical freeze frame of the splash… like PhotonQ’s bullet to the Terminator T-1000’s head
The top surface of mud is teeming with microbial life, but under that veneer, the muck is pitch black. It makes the most satisfying target for collective rock throwing… This is a 200mm zoom shot of a distant crater, among many riddling a bullet-time landscape.
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So, this rock in the mud, which I knew it was, is at a playground for grown-up geeks who enjoy reliving the childhood fun of rock throwing. I can just imagine a few tall men throwing rocks in this soup of muck and some taking photos. Cool! Any photos of the action?
Steve, each person looking at the puzzle for the first time needs to get equal chance and fun of guessing as the first person (since not everyone gets here at the same time) so it is always worth the wait. The more contributions, the better. Thanks for holding that tantric puzzle position for this new fun puzzle!
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Thanks for the map link. Flickr has a way of adding locations to a map. Check the link on the right column: "Place this photo on a map."
The San Francisco Bay is quite an eco-system. There are several organizations with interests in restoring the Bay to its pristine condition. This type of mud could be unique to the Bay area.
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