On the Meltwater Origin of Potholes Found on Granite Ridges——A Consultation with Academician Shi Yafeng

• 责任者：Lü Hongbo (Department of Earth Sciences ; China University of Petroleum ; Qingdao 266555 ; China) ; Ren Xiaohui
• 刊名：Geological Review
• 出版年：2010
• 卷期：56(5)
• 关键词：冰臼 ; moulin ; 冰川作用 ; glaciation
• 页码：p.693-702
• 图表：1 illus., 2 plates, 47 refs.
• 分类号：1400
• issnNo：ISSN0371-5736
• isbnNo：CN11-1952/P

The authors of this paper collected a lot of materials and references to discuss the origin of potholes with Academician Shi Yafeng.  The authors disagree with Academician Shi Yafeng on the origin of potholes.  Potholes are formed without being controlled by the joints in granites and without the participation of weathering, and thus, can not be interpreted with the so-called “negative spheroidal weathering”.  Potholes can only be formed under the erosion of fast whirling water, and so the ones found on the granite ridges in the east of China can be treated as the meltwater erosion indicators of Quaternary glaciation.  Recent observation on the abrupt draining of meltwater from the supraglacial lakes in Greenland provides important evidence for the meltwater origin of potholes.