Massive Glacial Boulder Unearthed at Construction Site in Everett, Washington
By Sean Breslin
Published Nov 21 2014 11:17 AM EST
weather.com
(photo at site)
About 30 feet below the surface, construction workers in Everett, Washington, made an enormous find that harkens back to times of much colder weather.
While using an excavator on Nov. 13 at the site of a new Courtyard by Marriott hotel, construction workers made contact with something solid, the Daily Herald reported. After geotechnical engineers were able to analyze the object, they concluded that it was a glacial rock weighing some 300,000 pounds and roughly the size of an SUV, the report added.
The huge boulder, known as a glacial erratic, could be as old as two million years, though scientists would need to study the rock closer to get a better estimate for its age, the Daily Herald also said.
A glacial erratic is a piece of rock that doesn't resemble other rocks in the area where it's found, and they can be carried hundreds of miles by glacial ice, according to the Daily Mail. The largest glacial erratic ever discovered, the report adds, weighed 16,500 tons – exponentially heavier than the 150-ton rock discovered underground in Everett last week.
A decision on what will happen to the prehistoric rock hasn't been made yet, said Meghan Pembroke, communications director for the city of Everett, in the Daily Herald report. Ben Hansen, site superintendent for the Halvorson Construction Group, told the Associated Press they may give the boulder to the city.
"They might be willing to donate it to us or work with us if we can find a home for it," Pembroke said.
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