(Stop here, unless you're intent on examining the limb I intend to go out on...)

Take a look at the lightning scar on the sidewalk of Minneapolis, from the prior post.

http://www.celestialmonochord.org/2006/05/sidewalk_fulgar.html

Then compare to features like Lake Cumberland Kentucky (actually, I wish Lake Cumberland were slightly less extreme so the parallel was easier to see). Anyway, it's right near Rowena Kentucky, if you want to look it up on Google Earth or maps.yahoo.com. When ya' start looking, ya' start seeing. How did Lake Cumberland form? One who wished to go out on a bit of a limb might say it's a giant arc scar... Likewise the massive arc scarring to the west in Cumberland county. Granted it's all covered over with trees and a few rivers now trickle through it. But before all that, I'm fairly certain it was created on grand scale by electrical scarring not unlike the scars seen on the sidewalk of Minneapolis. I know it's a stretch, and nobody wants to even consider something so outside of our every-day experience. But if you seriously look at it, these features bear striking resemblance to massive arc scars. (I know, I know, folks will say I've got arc scars on the brain; well, not literally, I hope... And I understand that sometimes we see only what we're looking for, but still. The parallels are strong and plenty. Pretty much wherever you look.)

Let's not forget the giant arc scar-looking formation in NW Jackson county Tennessee, not far away from Lake Cumberland, or the similar formation just west of Jackson county. (Going off of the info in Google Earth and Nasa's World Wind.)

If one were to put forth an alternate theory to the water-erosion over billions of years theory, one might suggest that electrical arcing caused the arc-like features of "channels", in the process machining out the fine sediments that were subsequently layered over the bedrock. Once the rocks were sculpted, and the sediments machined finely enough, it would certainly make a much easier place and more fertile for life to grow (plants and whatnot). Certainly easier than trying to grow in solid rock. And the grooves/channels would certainly make for much easier flow of water along said channels. IE, they'd make convenient riverbeds. I'm just wondering if we have the chain of events and the timeline wrong... It's out there, but we see structures consistent with electrical arc scarring all over the place. Granted it's on a scale much larger than current electrical processes would seem to indicate. However, if Earth was more electrically active in the past, it's not out of the question. Also, if it had any close calls with other solar system bodies durign the solar system's evolution, they may well have had an electrical interchange as their EM fields came into contact. Though, I'm sure little research has been done along those lines, so I can't really suggest that as a definitive mechanism. Still. It's interesting...

More to the point, there is an interesting canyon/"river" system in SW Idaho with several locations named J-P Point, Cave Draw and Stiff Tree Draw (according to Google Earth). More importantly there is a feature just to the east where a "channel" terminates. Not in a mountain, not in a flood plain but in a steep-walled gully. I'd like an explanation of how this formation was created? If you look at aerial photos or satellite images, you will also note several secondary channels coming off the main channel, but at appx 1/10th-1/20th the depth, and at right angles. I'd be interested to know how and why this formation was created, and why the secondary channels are not at the same depth as the "main" channel, and why the main channel has scaplloped edges and is generally in sharp relief, and not "eroded-looking," as one would expect of a "riverbed." Its location is: 42(deg)25'07.20" N x 115(deg)36'08.8" W according to Google Earth. If someone can enlighten me as to the "establishment's explanation" of this feature, I'd be grateful. This appears to be characteristic of electrical machining, with sharp, scalloped edges, and a steep-walled terminus not consistent with fluid erosion (specifically due to the fact that it's extraordinarily steep and not especially eroded). This seems rather inconsistent with erosion by a river system... Personally, I'm of the opinion that rivers in the channels are only incidental after-effects in arc channels that were pre-existent (gradual erosion having taken over in some places after the initial carving event(s) were completed electrically). Features like this rather clearly anomalous one seem to indicate a process OTHER than erosion by fluids. And I highly doubt we'll be finding any evidence of clathrates, or CO2 geysers here on Earth to provide red-herrings for these anomalies. So, how do we explain it? ;o] I'm sure if I looked hard enough I could easily find more steep-walled gullies that would be hard to explain via water erosion... Actually, i think there's more further down the channel system from the one I'm referencing. Quite a few, actually.

I guess my main point, is if we take what we see on the small scale, and scale it up, is it consistent with other features on the larger scale? Honestly, I think the answer is yes... We see the basically same structure in lightnign scars as we see in river "channels" and river "systems." It's an out-there assumption, but I don't think it's entirely off the grid of possibility. Though it would require Earth being more electrically active in its past, and probably on a much grander scale. But, considering that we see very similar features on other planets with little or NO water, perhaps a non-fluidic mechanism IS called for to create the same structures on similar scales for planets that don't generally have fluids on their surfaces, nor the atmospheric density / temperature to support a convection and precipitation cycle like that on Earth.

Okay, done with my out-there-ness on this one. Hope it was amusing, if not mildly enlightening.