
Google Earth spotters have discovered a strange rock formation in the prairies of central Canada that resembles a native American in headdress listening to an iPod. The rock formation is in Alberta, Canada about 300km southeast of Calgary, near the border with Saskatchewan.Dubbed the Alberta Indian, the formation was discovered by a Google Earth spotter nicknamed Supergranny. The area is situated in one of Canada's key gas fields. The nearest urban centre is MedicineHat, a town of 56,000 known as "The Gas City" which claims to be Canada's sunniest spot.The rock formation's "face" measures about 255m across and its about 225m long.
The feature which resembles an iPod earphone is actually a road leading up to what one Google Earth spotter who is knowledgeable about the region says is a natural gas wellhead.
In the Google Earth forum, the person names the well as Piper Medhat 6-20-12-1.
Another Google Earth
spotter who appears to have some knowledge of geology write that the
figure "seems to consist of an area naturally eroded out of the south
side of a flat-topped mesa".
(According to the Macquarie
Dictionary, a mesa is a land form having arelatively flat top and
bounded wholly or in part with steep rock walls, common in arid and
semi-arid parts of the world.)
"I can see no sign of it
having been created by modern or ancient people. In generally, the
shapes making up the Alberta Indian conform to the sort of cursive,
fractal erosion features found all around that part of Alberta," the
spotter called LoRezFlyer writes on the Google Earth forum.
Google Earth - a program
which combines satellite and aerial photography - offers armchair
explorers a new frontier of discovery.
Copyright: smh.com.au
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