4 ms·
? Eh, stone walls are a byproduct of removing stones from fields. The humus part sets, new stones disappear, the game goes on and on. Fields do only become ston
by picadores 3y ago
? Eh, stone walls are a byproduct of removing stones from fields. The humus part sets, new stones disappear, the game goes on and on. Fields do only become stonefree, if you add earth from some external source on top.
Source: My youth on my dads farm.
Additional annoying:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_consolidation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_consolidation
Because not all those fields were properly consolidated (the internal walls moved to the outside, you get stripes in the new larger field, were there are stones again.
- bombcar 3y agoYep. In areas where it freezes stones will continue to “pop” out of the ground for years and years and year, and when collected they have to go somewhere.
- felipemnoa 3y agoSo, the freezing causes stones to be pushed up? That is a rather interesting phenomenon. Had never heard of it before.
- tmoertel 3y agoI believe it's called "frost heaving."
- bombcar 3y agoYep, water gets under the stone in the dirt, not enough for it to sink, and then the water/ground freezes, and pushes the stone up. It's why foundations are build below the frost line, to prevent heaving.
- felipemnoa 3y agoThe explanation actually makes sense. Although, why wouldn't the stone just sink back down when the water melts? It is not like the space made by the expanding ice gets filled in by dirt.
- undebuggable 3y agoIt's as well a case in my region in Central Europe, we colloquially say that "the soil breeds the stones". Corrosion, freezing and thaw cycles, they crumble the geological limestone layer beneath and push the rocks to the surface. More up north it's not the case, the "field stones" are remnants of the last glaciation in northern Europe.
- peteradio 3y agoIt slows down dramatically after the initial stone purge right? I have some land where there are piles of large stones in the grove bordering old cropland but there are no visible stones in the field. I imagine 1 stone pushes through on the 80 acres every few years no need to add humus.