Fu'an Ice Mortars

Fu'an Ice Mortars

Fu'an Ice Mortars

Baiyun Mountain is located in the northwest of Fu'an, adjacent to counties such as Shouning and Zhouning, with an elevation of over 1,400 meters. According to the planning expert group of the Baiyun Mountain Scenic Area, the ice mortar cluster is distributed along a 10-kilometer stretch of streams within the scenic area — from Chanxi to Longting Gorge and from Nanxi to Chanxi. The ice mortars vary in shape, resembling “funnels,” “cross-legged chairs,” and “plank walls.”

Han Tonglin, a researcher at the Institute of Geology of the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, and Chen Shangping, a senior engineer, recently visited the site and confirmed that the ancient glacial relics at Baiyun Mountain are concentrated and on a massive scale. This is a rare discovery of an ice mortar cluster in the history of glacial and ice mortar research, and it also provides strong evidence for the existence of ancient glacial movements.

The so-called ice mortars are stone pits formed when glacial meltwater, carrying ice and rock debris, impacts and grinds the underlying bedrock in a manner akin to water dripping through stone, flowing downward through glacial fissures. They are named for their resemblance to ancient stone mortars used for hulling grain.