Look how scary! A “river of stones” appeared in New Zealand

Did you hear about a cyclone passing through New Zealand? Named Gita, he left a huge trail of destruction and led four regions of the country to declare a state of emergency - due to heavy rains and flooding there.

However, amid all the chaos that has set in, something curious and quite frightening has been observed - also as a result of the cyclone passing. Near Mount Hutt in Canterbury, while a team was surveying the area for damage assessment, a river of rocks was discovered just outside the town of Rakaia. And from what you'll see in the following images, the formation almost looks like a rocky rapids! Check out:

* To add more "drama" to the scene, be sure to watch the video with sound via this link!

Curious phenomenon

According to Dave Petley, researcher at Sheffield University in the United Kingdom, what we saw above is known as granular flow and consists of a landslide laden with solid material. According to Dave, although it seems like a rather exotic phenomenon, the truth is that this type of event is relatively common and has been widely studied by scientists.

As he explained, although granular flow does not have the same density as a liquid - such as water, for example - in stone rivers it is also possible to observe various types of structures that would form in a conventional river.

In the case of what was generated in New Zealand, as you saw in the video, it behaved like a real river - running from the mountains to the valley. And if you were curious to know more details, the stream "crossed" eight farms in its path and "emptied" the rocks into a large fan once it reached lowland areas.