Hi everyone, みなさんこんにちは
At first glance, what look like two brown pebbles—or perhaps copper coins on a faded white surface—catch the eye. They seem to have been placed here by someone. But the longer you look, that interpretation slips away, and you realise it’s simply a random pattern.
Is it a pattern in rock, or perhaps an old concrete path?
The image is much smaller than it might appear—only about 20 centimetres across. The pattern was one I noticed while walking along a rocky shoreline on the Pacific coast of southern Chiba. This is mudstone, formed when muddy clay settled on the bottom of the ocean millions of years ago. Those brown circular shapes are fossils—ancient mud deposits preserved within the rock over time. What interested me most was the way the cracks continue right through the fossils. It gives the impression that they aren’t just embedded in the rock, but truly part of it—formed at the same time, with the cracks arriving much later. I took this photo in late winter a couple of years ago. I hope you like it.
I took this photo in late winter a couple of years ago. I hope you like it. I hope you like it. If you’d like to see more images of Japanese nature, take a look at the galleries section of the site.
Thanks and enjoy!
