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Canstralian t1_j4r4j0f wrote

It's a load pyramid under each boulder. The sediment under compression was more resistant to erosion than the surround loose sediment. Great photo for teaching civil engineering students

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cvelde t1_j4t64tg wrote

I thought that too at first glance, but there is no way the smaller ones produce any significant compression. (especially that tiny one on the huge pyramid on the right) They just protect the loam underneath them from rain and thus softening.

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Canstralian t1_j56f895 wrote

Or it is possible that it had a larger rock on it which has fallen off and if you were able to speed up time you would see this pyramid erode faster then the surrounding.

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cvelde t1_j5787at wrote

Suppose that is the case, why then has the pyramid already eroded to more or less exactly slightly under the size of the small rock like all of the rest of them? The Picture must have then been taken at the exact right moment in time to look like this, seems very unlikely to me.

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