Curved icicles dangling from the leaves of a sweetgum tree perform a decent caricature of clawed dinosaur feet. The curvature happens when the object hosting the icicle changes position gradually, such as when a tree branch steadily sags from the weight of accumulating ice. The icy stalactite always points down at the time that part of it was formed, but what constitutes “down” changes over the course of time. Fortunately this particular sweetgum only had a few leaves left to catch ice; and it was small and flexible enough to bend and not break under the strain.
Norman, OK (10 Dec 7) Looking SSESweetgum’s Claws
Curved icicles dangling from the leaves of a sweetgum tree perform a decent caricature of clawed dinosaur feet. The curvature happens when the object hosting the icicle changes position gradually, such as when a tree branch steadily sags from the weight of accumulating ice. The icy stalactite always points down at the time that part of it was formed, but what constitutes “down” changes over the course of time. Fortunately this particular sweetgum only had a few leaves left to catch ice; and it was small and flexible enough to bend and not break under the strain.
Norman, OK (10 Dec 7) Looking SSE