I'm not sure if this is the correct forum, or if anyone can help with this without seeing a picture (working on it), but there is something strange happening in my mothers lawn.
In a roughly 15-foot square area there are small mounds of clay and other fine soil that seem to be produced by a 'perolating' action up through the grass.
There are approximately 18-25 mounds of dirt, 6-10 inches in diameter and 2-4 inches high. They look similar to when you would build 'drip castles' out of sand. Turning over several that were strong enough to stay in one piece showed that there was a fluid of some kind flowing out of the ground into the mound creating a very definite upside-down semi-spherical hole where the percolating fluid was hitting the underside of the mound.
In my 36 years I have NEVER seen anything like this on our property. (I don't live there now, thus the difficulty with taking pictures...trying to get my mother do send me some.)
Here is what I can tell you about what's under this area:
There is a creek nearby...30ft away. The grassy surface I'm speaking of is approximately 3-4 ft higher in elevation than the water flow of the creek. This area does get soft with a hard rain.
There are MANY underground mine shafts in the area (central PA). I am not sure where they are relative to our property.
There was a large (2ft dia. at the base) maple tree that fell a couple of years ago. The stump is left in the ground and thus the root system as well. This phenomena is occurring very near (2-3 ft away) the stump.
There are Macellus shale wells all over the nearby mountain. These wells are probably 5-8 miles away.
That's about all I can say. This is very strange. Anyone have any theories off the top of their heads? This is nowhere near my area of expertise.
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Fitter, happier, more productive
In a roughly 15-foot square area there are small mounds of clay and other fine soil that seem to be produced by a 'perolating' action up through the grass.
There are approximately 18-25 mounds of dirt, 6-10 inches in diameter and 2-4 inches high. They look similar to when you would build 'drip castles' out of sand. Turning over several that were strong enough to stay in one piece showed that there was a fluid of some kind flowing out of the ground into the mound creating a very definite upside-down semi-spherical hole where the percolating fluid was hitting the underside of the mound.
In my 36 years I have NEVER seen anything like this on our property. (I don't live there now, thus the difficulty with taking pictures...trying to get my mother do send me some.)
Here is what I can tell you about what's under this area:
There is a creek nearby...30ft away. The grassy surface I'm speaking of is approximately 3-4 ft higher in elevation than the water flow of the creek. This area does get soft with a hard rain.
There are MANY underground mine shafts in the area (central PA). I am not sure where they are relative to our property.
There was a large (2ft dia. at the base) maple tree that fell a couple of years ago. The stump is left in the ground and thus the root system as well. This phenomena is occurring very near (2-3 ft away) the stump.
There are Macellus shale wells all over the nearby mountain. These wells are probably 5-8 miles away.
That's about all I can say. This is very strange. Anyone have any theories off the top of their heads? This is nowhere near my area of expertise.
--------------------------------
Fitter, happier, more productive
