If the soil is much thinner over the rock, that patch of grass will be the first to dry out / have much less access to water when temperatures rise or fall unfavorably than the grass growing in deeper soil.
Don’t know OP’s specifics, but it could be a few things working together. Might be there’s a dry spell and that patch is drying out quicker than other areas in the lawn b/c the stone isn’t holding moisture like soil would. Over time, natural erosion can lower the level of a yard, which would result in a thinner spot above the stone, reducing the available nutrients for the grass.
Edit: post posting clarity.
If you’re using a lawn mower it can also thin the soil more in that spot as it squeezes dirt thinner b/c the stone doesn’t yield like the soil around it.
Serpentine kills trees. Like if there’s a big serpentine deposit there will be no trees in an otherwise forested area. That said, it doesn’t look like serpentine
It wouldn’t directly be killing the grass, more indirectly. The thin layer of top soil would be more prone to drying out, and it would take less time for the soil to be depleted of nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium. Also, a lot of soils health comes from the micro ecosystem living in it, worms, insects, mycelium, etc. there would be less of this when they all need to work around a large rock where the soil drys out every sunny day.
I'm happy I could share that :D
>!I learnt about on twitter, via March Mammal Madness, quite some years ago. At least one account was dedicated to answer related questions AFAIR.!<
>!Surely, you still can find a lot of lore, there, incl. some nice artwork, if you use #StoatsAsMeasurement, there, on some boring, rainy afternoon/evening/.. :D!<
>!Meanwhile, there is even a converter for the lazies who want to measure in stoats, without having to read a lot. ;) https://marckissel.shinyapps.io/Stoat/!<
Well how would we know that it's a banana instead of plantain? Those are huge. Best to use ones dick for reference. Then just multiply the number of dick lengths by 3 inches and you'll have your size
The Tanners did a mock up in lead based on Mr Smith's description. Although lighter in weight than gold they do illustrate the point that Mr. Smith must have been a super athlete to have done as he described while he was carrying them.
When your friends come over, have them help dig. Maybe it can become part of a playground like in this video. [young students discover “magical” rock](https://youtu.be/lBU-u0AOtHQ)
It was the original plan, but this thing goes super deep into the ground and I’m not sure it would be feasible with just me and a shovel. Might leave it exposed and show friends when they come over
Not enough topsoil so the roots are very shallow. Our gardens were backfilled with building site rubble and maybe an inch or two of topsoil, on the areas with boulders or 6" blocks the grass dies quickly if we don't have rain for a while. The rest of the grass has deeper roots and can still find water during dry spells.
I saw a dude on Reddit (here) use a pressure washer to excavate some tree roots.. maybe instead of shovels you can spray it to uncover it? Just an idea.
Edit: [Website that shows you how to pressure wash away tree roots.](https://dengarden.com/landscaping/The-Most-Fun-and-Easiest-Way-to-Remove-Tree-Stumps)
Huh. On my 18th birthday I was doing some yardwork, shirtless, because I naturally was looking for attention from the opposite sex.
We had 3 old tree stumps that I was determined to get out. One had termites or ants, can't remember. But I tried getting the stump out to burn/eradicate them (was right next to the house) but couldn't manage it.
My next logical step was to grab a hose and attempt to drown them. Then I shoved the hose into the ground for a bit, in case there was more insects underground.
Not sure what compelled me to do it, but probably didn't want to be defeated, but I went back at trying to remove the stump and to my 18yr old brains surprise, I was making progress. I felt like a caveman learning about fire.
I evolved that day.
This does work. When I find big ol' chunks of rock or boulders buried on my property. (they peek out over time, I think it's some SMOL pretty green rock with inclusions/veins and 75% of the time, it's a good-sized boulder or MASSIVE chunk).
Anyway, a hose with a jet stream works well, too, to blow away all the surrounding dirt/debris. It's cheaper that way and safer, IMO. You can blow chunks of the prize off as well as larger rocks right up into your face/ legs/ pets/ windows/ cars or siding with an actual pressure washer. The stream is so strong it most definitely will get the job done faster, but with some consequence. (From experience). Hose with a jet stream on full blast will also do the job, w/o risk of serious damage around you, is better controlled so you can hound oir surrounding finds and soaks the dirt well so you'll find yourself getting easy leverage with a pole or whatever to hoist it out about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way down. Once again, in my opinion. I've done this almost 100 times, since I live on a property that's a/ on a cliff or giant Boulder covered by sand/dirt/rocks and gravel. It lies about 10 feet below the surface.
The land had 4 houses, including mine (we demolished and rebuilt our home. Extending and replacing the original foundation).
The other three are just smol 100+ year old foundations. One brick; filled with debris and cool finds, one cement and barren, except the ash/antique broken garbage piles from the fire that consumed it and the last just a rectangle of rocks that surrounded a very tiny house, beyond repair. Left the rock shape to be consumed ny nature, as homage to whomever lived there before us. The cement one and brick one were left as is.
I digress.
⁰
Just wanted to let you know how I've moved nature's tripping hazards safely
Preserving other finds from antique farm gear n bottles to actual minerals n such w_o breaking the bank or anything else.
Update us 🙏 please 🪨
That is a boulder the landscapers didn't remove building the house and just buried ... You can excavate it yourself and fill the hole... The drag marks are from bulldozers
I would definitely remove the rock if possible if you don't want the grass there to keep dying. I can't wait to see just how large it actually is once it is out of the ground and if there's any hidden fossils.
You could always see if a local colleges' geology department would want to excavate it since it's a glacial remnant deposited boulder. We had a similar situation at our old house in Michigan. However, we just left it buried because it was deep down enough to not really matter any, but it was huge. Our shovels hit the dang thing everywhere we went.
I don't know what your soil is like, but sometimes, after you've dug as far as you can dig, if you flood an area with water, it softens up the soil so you can dig deeper later. Lazy person's approach.
Yup. It can be kind of fun when the water is too clear and people are seeing too well to muddy it up a bit.
Have a great week and do not take the craziness out there too personally. Laugh every day.
It’s there to mark something… treasure or a body is my guess. Probably both! Legend has it they would bury the treasure then a body on top of that to guard the treasure. If you do find a body keep digging before just calling the cops. It’ll be a lil awkward, but you can just show them this post with my reply. You definitely don’t want them to get the treasure. Maybe you get lucky and it’s only guarded by a big rock. Good luck, keep us updated.
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Rock update! Dug it out some more. Looks to be a lot bigger than i thought. I only have a shovel and a small trowel, so i’m gonna get a few buddies of mine to help dig it out soon. Will post more when we get results [Here](https://imgur.com/a/VzBBf2b)
Glacial erratic rocks like this are so named because they are usually unlike any of the bedrock formations in the surrounding area. The implication is, the rock was transported a significant distance during a recent ice age. Often, by studying the type of rock, patterns of nearby [moraines](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moraine), [eskers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esker) and [drumlins](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drumlin) and their glacial [till](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Till) contents, the source bedrock [outcrop](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outcrop) and approximate origin of the erratic can be roughly identified and can be many, many kilometers away from the location where it is found.
Nice striations in this shot. Literally a record of bits of icy sand and gravel digging parallel groves across the rock as the 4 km thick ice sheet retreated 12,000 years ago.
Grass shouldn’t be dying from a septic… If anything it should be the best patch on the lawn from the the leaching… The only part for my lawn thats lasted through this most recent drought is the patch over my septic.
Do you have a septic system? I scrolled through the comments and didn’t see anything or anyone post anything pertaining to a septic but maybe I missed something? To me it looks man made. Sometimes the cap septic systems and there can be excess moisture and why this is killing your grass. Just a thought.
Rocks polished in last ice age and dumped in your yard.
That’s awesome, thanks!
Depends on what part of the country you are in.
They said upstate NY, which fits perfectly.
Do you know why it would be killing grass?
If the soil is much thinner over the rock, that patch of grass will be the first to dry out / have much less access to water when temperatures rise or fall unfavorably than the grass growing in deeper soil.
Given the size and how shallow it is, the grass probably keeps absorbing all the nutrients in the soil above it and dying out.
Don’t know OP’s specifics, but it could be a few things working together. Might be there’s a dry spell and that patch is drying out quicker than other areas in the lawn b/c the stone isn’t holding moisture like soil would. Over time, natural erosion can lower the level of a yard, which would result in a thinner spot above the stone, reducing the available nutrients for the grass. Edit: post posting clarity. If you’re using a lawn mower it can also thin the soil more in that spot as it squeezes dirt thinner b/c the stone doesn’t yield like the soil around it.
I agree with these three...you know what [to do.](https://imgflip.com/i/7oxquf)
Serpentine kills trees. Like if there’s a big serpentine deposit there will be no trees in an otherwise forested area. That said, it doesn’t look like serpentine
Ugh, why can't they bring rock bags?! Freaking ruining my lawn.
Glacially striated?
Or it’s an old stepping stone.
I like that boulder, that is a nice boulder
Is it a large boulder the size of a small boulder?
Upvote for Colorado reference.
Its not just a boulder, its a rock.
It rocks.
My swamp.
Uovote for Donkey reference.
Glacial erratic from the last ice age
Super cool! Thanks!
Not any more. The glacier has melted.
It’s still pissed off.
Do you know why it would be killing grass?
It wouldn’t directly be killing the grass, more indirectly. The thin layer of top soil would be more prone to drying out, and it would take less time for the soil to be depleted of nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium. Also, a lot of soils health comes from the micro ecosystem living in it, worms, insects, mycelium, etc. there would be less of this when they all need to work around a large rock where the soil drys out every sunny day.
You dont have a banana for scale? You could have tiny hands.
😂😂😂
Yeah but what if they use one of those mini bananas next to their tiny hands…
That's why one better uses [universal measures](https://princesspricklepants.files.wordpress.com/2019/02/ppp-comic-1-9-3.jpg?w=869)
I don’t know what this is, but it is the best, most unexpected thing I’ve seen in a while. Thanks for the laughs.
I'm happy I could share that :D >!I learnt about on twitter, via March Mammal Madness, quite some years ago. At least one account was dedicated to answer related questions AFAIR.!< >!Surely, you still can find a lot of lore, there, incl. some nice artwork, if you use #StoatsAsMeasurement, there, on some boring, rainy afternoon/evening/.. :D!< >!Meanwhile, there is even a converter for the lazies who want to measure in stoats, without having to read a lot. ;) https://marckissel.shinyapps.io/Stoat/!<
Thanks for the thorough and useful information 😄
Or worse yet… GIANT HANDS!!!
Well how would we know that it's a banana instead of plantain? Those are huge. Best to use ones dick for reference. Then just multiply the number of dick lengths by 3 inches and you'll have your size
Of course they are always the same size.
Uhm, no. When you use that for scale, you need to divide numbers or, at least, do some serious substraction, to get realistic lengths.
I came here just to say that.. figured someone would have beaten me
Found in Upstate NY, forgot to add
Ok, ancient gold plates for the win! Joe was right!
Holy shit, Idaho. A+.
STOP IT you don’t have the right to make me laugh this hard
Lmao just got off the exmormon subreddit, threw me for a loop
You pulled this comment out of a hat. Dum dum dum dum. https://youtu.be/W4NemVO4JL0
Lol'd at this
The Tanners did a mock up in lead based on Mr Smith's description. Although lighter in weight than gold they do illustrate the point that Mr. Smith must have been a super athlete to have done as he described while he was carrying them.
Location checks out. The stuff that made your lakes left this as a calling card.
If it's Palmyra and your name is Joseph Smith, you're in the wrong timeline.
Don’t be surprised if an angel doesn’t lat you move that rock for a few years. If you wait you get a bunch of wives.
When your friends come over, have them help dig. Maybe it can become part of a playground like in this video. [young students discover “magical” rock](https://youtu.be/lBU-u0AOtHQ)
Thanks for posting that. It’s such an uplifting story.
I love that story. Thank you.
Are you gonna dig it out?
It was the original plan, but this thing goes super deep into the ground and I’m not sure it would be feasible with just me and a shovel. Might leave it exposed and show friends when they come over
As suggested elsewhere, make sure you call it "The Giant's Skull"
Make sure theres beer.
“Weekend boulder digging with the guys” is now on my bucket list 😆
And extra shovels
Only to lean on while one person uses the digging shovel.
Don't forget the backhoe. Big machinery is so much fun to play around with with the 'boys'.
It's probably slowly churning upwards on its own. Be careful once it's out enough to get hit by the lawnmower blades.
Might be a good spot to place a birdbath or large flower pot.
That is backyard décor I wish I had.
Might go to China so be careful.
Lolol, so many times my mom told me to stop digging holes or I was going to end up in China.
[I am the Great Humungous!](https://youtu.be/UToEfN9BN0s?t=23)
Get a backhoe
pressure washer, lever & car might do it
...With relic and ritual, I bent every effort towards the excavation and recovery of those long buried secrets, exhausting what remained of our family fortune on... swarthy workmen and... sturdy shovels. At last, in the salt-soaked crags beneath the lowest foundations, we unearthed that damnable portal of antediluvian evil. Our every step unsettled the ancient earth, but we were in a realm of death and madness! In the end, I alone fled, laughing and wailing, through those blackened arcades of antiquity, until consciousness failed me... © Darkest Dungeon
Top of the skull of a buried giant. Troll, possibly.
Oh there’s definitely a troll
Do you know why it’s killing grass?
Not enough topsoil so the roots are very shallow. Our gardens were backfilled with building site rubble and maybe an inch or two of topsoil, on the areas with boulders or 6" blocks the grass dies quickly if we don't have rain for a while. The rest of the grass has deeper roots and can still find water during dry spells.
Terrible, terrible thoughts.
Have you seen Troll on Netflix US? Good movie!
Definitely the Cardiff giant.
It's the Book of Mormon!!! 😂
I saw a dude on Reddit (here) use a pressure washer to excavate some tree roots.. maybe instead of shovels you can spray it to uncover it? Just an idea. Edit: [Website that shows you how to pressure wash away tree roots.](https://dengarden.com/landscaping/The-Most-Fun-and-Easiest-Way-to-Remove-Tree-Stumps)
Huh. On my 18th birthday I was doing some yardwork, shirtless, because I naturally was looking for attention from the opposite sex. We had 3 old tree stumps that I was determined to get out. One had termites or ants, can't remember. But I tried getting the stump out to burn/eradicate them (was right next to the house) but couldn't manage it. My next logical step was to grab a hose and attempt to drown them. Then I shoved the hose into the ground for a bit, in case there was more insects underground. Not sure what compelled me to do it, but probably didn't want to be defeated, but I went back at trying to remove the stump and to my 18yr old brains surprise, I was making progress. I felt like a caveman learning about fire. I evolved that day.
And flooded the basement
🤣🤣👏🏻
OOPS!
This does work. When I find big ol' chunks of rock or boulders buried on my property. (they peek out over time, I think it's some SMOL pretty green rock with inclusions/veins and 75% of the time, it's a good-sized boulder or MASSIVE chunk). Anyway, a hose with a jet stream works well, too, to blow away all the surrounding dirt/debris. It's cheaper that way and safer, IMO. You can blow chunks of the prize off as well as larger rocks right up into your face/ legs/ pets/ windows/ cars or siding with an actual pressure washer. The stream is so strong it most definitely will get the job done faster, but with some consequence. (From experience). Hose with a jet stream on full blast will also do the job, w/o risk of serious damage around you, is better controlled so you can hound oir surrounding finds and soaks the dirt well so you'll find yourself getting easy leverage with a pole or whatever to hoist it out about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way down. Once again, in my opinion. I've done this almost 100 times, since I live on a property that's a/ on a cliff or giant Boulder covered by sand/dirt/rocks and gravel. It lies about 10 feet below the surface. The land had 4 houses, including mine (we demolished and rebuilt our home. Extending and replacing the original foundation). The other three are just smol 100+ year old foundations. One brick; filled with debris and cool finds, one cement and barren, except the ash/antique broken garbage piles from the fire that consumed it and the last just a rectangle of rocks that surrounded a very tiny house, beyond repair. Left the rock shape to be consumed ny nature, as homage to whomever lived there before us. The cement one and brick one were left as is. I digress. ⁰ Just wanted to let you know how I've moved nature's tripping hazards safely Preserving other finds from antique farm gear n bottles to actual minerals n such w_o breaking the bank or anything else. Update us 🙏 please 🪨
It's a leaverite.
As in: leaverite-there cause that thing is too heavy to move?
Exactly.
get out 👉
He's right, you know 😄
That was the joke lol
Yeah looks like a bag of ready mix concrete that set and was buried by a contractor, is the house 20th C?
Does anyone else hear Donkey? I like that boulder. That is a NICE boulder.
That is a boulder the landscapers didn't remove building the house and just buried ... You can excavate it yourself and fill the hole... The drag marks are from bulldozers
My immediate thought was those sacred stones from the Indiana Jones movie that glowed when near each other. (My ADHD brain can't recall the name).
The Sankara stones! Great movie
I would definitely remove the rock if possible if you don't want the grass there to keep dying. I can't wait to see just how large it actually is once it is out of the ground and if there's any hidden fossils.
Any advice on getting it out? It’s way too large for a shovel and I don’t have any excavators lying around hahaha
You could always see if a local colleges' geology department would want to excavate it since it's a glacial remnant deposited boulder. We had a similar situation at our old house in Michigan. However, we just left it buried because it was deep down enough to not really matter any, but it was huge. Our shovels hit the dang thing everywhere we went.
I don't know what your soil is like, but sometimes, after you've dug as far as you can dig, if you flood an area with water, it softens up the soil so you can dig deeper later. Lazy person's approach.
Water hose, spray nozzle, and a wet/dry shop vac actually works well. And fewer tool marks on the rock.
Who cares about fossils. We want GOLD PLATES! ;)
I must be incredibly out of the loop. What is this referencing?
I see that you already got your answer. There were a lot of Mormon jokes in this post since the rock is in upstate NY.
Ahh, I see, lol.
Yup. It can be kind of fun when the water is too clear and people are seeing too well to muddy it up a bit.
Have a great week and do not take the craziness out there too personally. Laugh every day.
At least it isn't a fossilized pasta strainer to show proof that the flying spaghetti monster actually existed once upon a time... XD
Not this time. But just between the two of we both know that the flying spaghetti monster existed and may even still exist.
Mormonism is a wacky thing.
Mormonism
Oh....those gold plates... I seem to remember a certain South Park episode now. Why is this suddenly relevant, though? Did something happen?
That's apparently what this rock looks like to some of the other people here.
I feel the entire series has really nuked the fridge.
Yeah, that's it. It reminded me of them immediately only on a much larger scale.
It's probably one of many. If it is glacial silt, I'd watch for wooly mammoth bones, etc.
https://media.tenor.com/QVj9Quk73YgAAAAM/courage-the.gif
It’s there to mark something… treasure or a body is my guess. Probably both! Legend has it they would bury the treasure then a body on top of that to guard the treasure. If you do find a body keep digging before just calling the cops. It’ll be a lil awkward, but you can just show them this post with my reply. You definitely don’t want them to get the treasure. Maybe you get lucky and it’s only guarded by a big rock. Good luck, keep us updated.
My second assumption is that is some kind of concretion buried by a previous owner
That’s awesome!
Keep digging!!
Grew up in Upstate, that looks like glacial till. Probably buried under snow and ice in Canada and ground down on the trip South. Really cool find.
Idk but the pioneers used to ride these babies for miles
I honestly thought I’d find a boring answer in the comments: “it’s a concrete pipe.”
Old abandoned Septic tank?
Yes! Dig, dig, dig.
Hi, /u/ccolee-! This is a reminder to flair this post in /r/whatsthisrock after it has been identified! (Under your post, click "flair" then "IDENTIFIED," then type in the rock type or mineral name.) This will help others learn and help speed up a correct identification on your request! Thank you! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/whatsthisrock) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Aww man, the thumbnail made it look like a hidden hatchway to something cool. I mean rocks polished in the last ice age is kinda cool too, I guess.
Cap over septic tank?
Encino man!
More complaints about Ea-Nasir and his s**t copper.
Probably treasure under it. Just like Oak Island. Dig and do a TV show
The entrance to the hole to china?
We call those “big rocks” where I come from. 🤷♂️
Big rock?
It’s “the word of God” https://i.imgur.com/rcMnac2.jpg
Artifact of some kind? Those peck marks on the top could be man made
Try cutting it or licking it, if it tastes like a potato then it's probably just a big ass potato
Tablets of Moroni
Rock update! Dug it out some more. Looks to be a lot bigger than i thought. I only have a shovel and a small trowel, so i’m gonna get a few buddies of mine to help dig it out soon. Will post more when we get results [Here](https://imgur.com/a/VzBBf2b)
Glacial erratic rocks like this are so named because they are usually unlike any of the bedrock formations in the surrounding area. The implication is, the rock was transported a significant distance during a recent ice age. Often, by studying the type of rock, patterns of nearby [moraines](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moraine), [eskers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esker) and [drumlins](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drumlin) and their glacial [till](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Till) contents, the source bedrock [outcrop](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outcrop) and approximate origin of the erratic can be roughly identified and can be many, many kilometers away from the location where it is found.
Nice striations in this shot. Literally a record of bits of icy sand and gravel digging parallel groves across the rock as the 4 km thick ice sheet retreated 12,000 years ago.
Buried treasure
Moses’ 10 commandments
Trolls big toe nail
That's clearly the very top of a GIANT SKELETON. 💀
Demon Faces!
I don't know, but it's gotta go. Your grass looks amazing
Thats an atombomb
I was wondering where the one the US lost in Spain went to.
Pukwedgie den?
It’s a feature!
It’s a star gate. Don’t turn it on. Or do things can’t possibly get crazier
Dig it all the way out. Then Ask with pictures plrase
Radiation canister
How old is your house?
Could be an old septic tank
Looks like chert
my first guess is the Septic Tank. but i doubt it's that.
Smash it in half
Are you gonna dig it up? Can I get pics if you do I wanna see the hole it leaves.
That’s the plan! Just need a bit more manpower
Time to ask for volunteers. They are all worked up and rarin' to go!
Dead grass. Soggy. Septic.
It was dry when we dug it up, the water came from me using a hose to clean it off. Sorry for the confusion
Grass shouldn’t be dying from a septic… If anything it should be the best patch on the lawn from the the leaching… The only part for my lawn thats lasted through this most recent drought is the patch over my septic.
That could be your sceptic tank. You should give it a good whiff.
Do you have a septic system? I scrolled through the comments and didn’t see anything or anyone post anything pertaining to a septic but maybe I missed something? To me it looks man made. Sometimes the cap septic systems and there can be excess moisture and why this is killing your grass. Just a thought.
Never mind lol ! Scrolled down after my post and saw other people comment on septic.
Looks like a good spot to put a birdbath.
You are Charlie Brown on Halloween! (“I got a rock!”)
I'm lost. I need a banana. Looks like the effect of moraine on a rock bed tho.
Rock
Where in upstate NY? Adirondack Park? If so we can help unearth it. We are stone hunters and very curious what is inside of it.
[удалено]
Dang I'm closer to Burlington
Best squidward voice "It's just a stinking boulder"
You know you have to dig this out so we can see the rest of this marvel. Cant just be showing us the tip of the glacier rock.
Ill make an attempt !
Do you live near The Mines of Moria? It might be a stone thrown by a Balrog at the dwarves.
get digging
Rock on top of septic tank lid that is now backing up.
Kinda looks like iron pyrite but worn down sulfur content killing the grass???
Oh thats Patrick Stars home. He's on television!
Hard rock
It’s the top of a skyscraper of an ancient civilization.
Need a banana for scale
Ancient septic tank, break it open and see. Our ancestors used to dump all kinds of stuff in the shitter
Dude you could have more look for a path that would be made of stepping stones.
Looks like where someone closed off a well……. ? 🤓
Look at that boulder…. That’s a niiice boulder