Editor:
Re: Iconic white rock deserves respect, July 17 letters
For years I have been following the “ice age movement of rocks” called “erratics.”
According to Wikipedia, “a glacial erratic is a piece of rock that differs from the size and type of rock native to the area in which it rests. “Erratics take their name from the Latin word errare (to wander), and are carried by glacial ice, often over distances of hundreds of kilometres.”
It is widely thought that “the white rock” was transported to its current home 15,000-10,000 years ago from Jackass Mountain, B.C. during the last ice age (that’s 226 km).
There are numerous erratics scattered around the Pacific Northwest – one in Abbotsford, one in Blaine, two in Ferndale, two in Bellingham, two on Whitbey Island and more towards Seattle. Dave Tucker, a geologist in Washington State, has written about the locations and the scientific study of the movement of erratics.
Thelma Newbury, South Surrey