A balancing rock, also called a balanced rock or precarious boulder, is a naturally occurring geological formation featuring a large rock or boulder, sometimes of substantial size, resting on other rocks, bedrock, or on glacial till. Some formations known by this name only appear to be balancing, but are in fact firmly connected to a base rock by a pedestal or stem.
Sierra de Organos National Park, Mexico
Mother and Child balancing rocks, Matobo National Park, Zimbabwe
A depiction of the Balancing Rocks, Epworth on the Zimbabwe $100 trillion note
Krishna's Butterball in Mahabalipuram, India
A glacial erratic is a glacially deposited rock differing from the type of rock native to the area in which it rests. Erratics, which take their name from the Latin word errare, are carried by glacial ice, often over distances of hundreds of kilometres. Erratics can range in size from pebbles to large boulders such as Big Rock in Alberta.
Glacial erratics from Norway on Schokland in the Netherlands
Glacial erratic boulder in Snowdonia (Eryri), Wales
Multiple erratics on the terminal moraine of the Okanogan Lobe. The Cascade Mountains are in the background.
Doane Rock, at Cape Cod National Seashore