Over-commercialized days are not really my thing, but this is a nice intro to this portion of the series.

Some of my nieces in the group(trust them) noticed a pothole that at a certain angle formed a heart shape and insisted I take a picture of it.

Here it is again in the larger context, as can be seen it just one of many potholes being bored into the solid granite rock.

Potholes in rocks like granite are formed where weaknesses in the rock presents themselves. As pictured below on can see a small pothole has formed where two cracks in the rock intersect.

Here are two potholes that are still quite small, the weakness the larger one is following is readily apparent, the smaller one, not so...

It may be that that is the vestige of a weakness much farther up in the rock that has since been removed and is no longer present.

However, once a pothole starts to form, it is destined to continue boring and growing both laterally and vertically as long as there is moving water present.

Here is a close up of the smaller one... slightly larger in diameter than a soda can.

As potholes get larger and larger they intersect to form channels... and so the canyon begins to deepen and is lengthen.

One can clearly see in this picture how potholes are made.

Dirt, sand, grit and rocks are ground in a circular motion by swirling flood waters. This grinding action abrades both the sides and base of the pothole to enlarge it.

The one pictured above is dry now, but not so when this happens, then that rock in the center will be rotating like a drill bit.

Image source

Other posts in this series

Augrabies - The hidden river
Augrabies - The Falls and Floods