The testing of a synthetic paste intended to repair the iconic Queen’s Head (女王頭) rock formation at Yehliu Geopark (野柳公園) in New Taipei City in a bid to protect the popular tourist attraction from erosion began yesterday after overwhelming support from a public poll held in June.
The hoodoo stone was named for a passing resemblance to the profile of Queen Elizabeth I of England.
Due to wind erosion, the “neck” of the rock has steadily decreased in size, going from 1.44m in 2006 to 1.26m this year, causing some academics to predict that the Queen’s Head will roll within the next decade.
Photo: CNA
The North Coast and Guanyinshan National Scenic Area’s administration office commissioned the National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology to look into the feasibility of using a paste created from fine sand to protect the rock from further erosion.
The NTU group said that according to research, the paste can effectively ward off erosion.
Scenic Area Director Chen Mei-hsiu (陳美秀) said it has planned a year-long test of the paste on five different stones to record its effects, to better understand its effects.
Last year, Chen said that experts from National Taiwan University’s Institute of Polymer Science and Engineering, Institute of Applied Mechanics, geography department and geosciences department were consulted in 2011.
A team of students led by NTU professor Hsieh Kuo-huang (謝國煌) tested the paste on the rock formations near the Queen’s Head yesterday.
Hsieh said the team finished applying the paste on one formation yesterday, adding that the team plans to finish with the last formation on Monday.
Hoping for an auspicious beginning, the scenic area administration started the test at exactly 10:10am yesterday, patterned after the Chinese phrase Shih chuan shih mei (十全十美), meaning everything was perfect.
The weather this week is expected to be generally sunny, a necessary criterion for the experiment, which requires at least three days of sun over the frequently rainy coastal area, the administration said.
Additional reporting by Yu Chao-fu
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