Inside Iowa State

March 11, 2005

The story behind the glacial erratic

by Samantha Beres

When Mike Parsons went to check out a dust situation in the basement of the Physics Building due to building renovations, he came across an old, oak file cabinet. He opened it and at random pulled a folder.

It happened to contain the history of a campus artifact, a glacial boulder that stands 6 feet tall, located between MacKay and Science I.

Parsons, construction manager with facilities planning and management, isn't the nosy type.

Mike Parsons, construction manager with facilities planning and management, stands next to a boulder that is anywhere from 600 million to billions of years old. The rock was deposited on campus by a glacier. The "banding," which looks like a ribbon around the boulder, actually runs through the boulder and was from magma (liquid rock) that cooled as it flowed through larger pieces of rock. Photo by Bob Elbert.

"I don't know why I looked at it," he said. "It was typewritten. It was something called 'The Boulder' and I stopped for a minute and read it."

The paper was written in 1970 by professor C. S. Gwynne. He came to Iowa State College in 1927. At that time, the boulder was located on the south bank of Squaw Creek, west of Stange Road on what would become the golf course.

He wrote that the boulder was possibly from as far north as Canada and was pre-Cambrian. (Pre-Cambrian covers an era that is anywhere from 600 million years old to billions of years old).

He referred to the boulder as a "glacial erratic," a geological term for a rock that has been glacially transported from its place of origin and left in an area of different bedrock composition.

He wrote that the boulder often was the subject of class field trips because of its spectacular "banding." (The "banding," which is different rock that wraps around the boulder like a ribbon, actually runs through the boulder. It was formed when magma, or liquid rock, flowed through larger pieces of rock.)

Gwynne's paper discussed the politics of where the boulder should be placed. Original plans were to landscape the area around the boulder. A plaque would recognize the late Dean Samuel Beyer, who had been an active golfer, as well as the wisdom of the glacial ice that brought the boulder to a location where a college eventually would be. This plan was never crried out.

A later idea was to move the boulder to campus, fit it with a birdbath and make it a memorial to professor Joseph Edward Guthrie, department of zoology. Another group wanted it to be moved to Beyer's grave. The Ames Park Board wanted it, too.

Gwynne, who was consulted on the matter all along, felt the boulder was sacred and should be left where it was deposited. But finally, he conceded to those who argued that eventual widening of Stange Road would endanger the boulder.

In the end, the rock was moved with Gwynne's blessing. He wrote, "As a final tribute I would like to say that I have seen an uncounted number of glacial erratics, but I have never seen one that had so many interesting features as this one does."

As for the folder, Parsons will return it to the dusty, oak cabinet where it will remain for future students, faculty and staff to rediscover.

"As a final tribute I would like to say that I have seen an uncounted number of glacial erratics, but I have never seen one that had so many interesting features as this one does."

C.S. Gwynne