Potholes on Yoseonam Rock in Mureung-ri, Yeongwol

A wide variety of river-cut potholes, in diverse forms and sizes, have developed extensively on the granite bedrock of the riverbed here, giving the site great academic value for revealing the cyclical evolution of the river and the processes of erosion by flowing water. The scenery created by the many potholes developing together is also of outstanding value. Yoseonam, meaning 'the rock that welcomes immortals', is said to owe its name to an episode in which Bongnae Yang Sa-eon, a literary figure of the Joseon dynasty, carved the characters for 'Yoseonam' onto the rock while enjoying the scenery here during his time as magistrate of Pyeongchang. A pothole is, literally, 'a deep, round jar-shaped hole': a landform created when pebbles carried downstream lodge in a hollow in the bedrock of the riverbed and, spun by the swirling current, gradually wear the rock away. Such features typically form in the upper reaches of a river, where fast currents and high energy create a depression into which sediment such as gravel or sand becomes trapped; repeated rotation driven by the eddying flow erodes the inner wall, so that the hole grows, and continued erosion of the walls and floor eventually carves the bedrock into a large jar-like shape. Potholes develop especially well in hard, uniform rocks such as sandstone or granite, and are mostly circular or oval in form.

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Where it is

Region

Yeongwol, Gangwon

Designation

Natural Monument · 천연기념물