When The Soil Takes Wing (Odd Soil Chunk Movements; Jordkast)

[Schrodinger's Zebra]

Is this something to do with it? Found on a google search for Jordkast...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frost_heaving

In the Footnotes it mentions:

In the section II. Fl. Om Jord och Landskap i gemeen (II. About the soil and the landscape in general) of his book, Hiärne mentions the phenomenon of "earth casting" or "earth heaving", in which, after the spring thaw, large chunks of sod appear to have been ripped from the ground and tossed: "3. Whether one sees in other places in Sweden, Finland and Iceland, etc., as has so happened in Uppland and in Närke in Viby parish, royal Vallby, that the earth itself with turf and all [in pieces] up to a few cubits long and wide has been thrown upwards which 20 or more men could not do, and a large pit is left afterwards.

Reference no. 6 on the wiki page takes us to a link which shows a picture of a book called "Archive of Mathematics, Astronomy and Physics" and has a picture on the cover which resembles Jordkast:

 

[EnolaGaia]

Is this something to do with it? Found on a google search for Jordkast...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frost_heaving ...

Yes - I think it may well be a related phenomenon, but probably not the same thing ...

Most of the jordkast incidents I've found occurred in colder regions, and the Wenatchee Divot was found during the winter at an elevation of over 2,000 feet.

I suspect the most probable non-Fortean explanation (whatever it may be) will involve some sort of ice upheaval from below and Racetrack Playa style sliding across the surface to wherever the soil chunk is eventually discovered. The 70-some feet distance traveled by the Wenatchee / Timm divot is atypically far from the original location (hole).

The ones for which I've seen good photos all seem to represent a top layer of porous soil only as thick as the covering vegetation's root systems. The bigger ones seem to leave relatively flat-bottomed holes exposing a denser stratum of soil or rock beneath.

These divots' sides aren't really all that smooth. One detailed description I ran across (I forget where ... ) mentioned the peripheral roots and vegetation appeared to be torn (simply pulled apart / pulled loose) rather than cut.

My best guess is that these odd turf travelers aren't ejected abruptly and thrown some distance to the side, but rather progressively "jacked" upward by ice until they break free of their surrounding soil.

 

[Tin]

We have had frost heaving here but only on a small scale, it has stopped people getting up our drive if their car is low though.