Chinese farmer feels the earth move … but not in a good way
Plot of land started rising up as man was picking vegetables in the field
A farmer in southern China got a big shock after a plot of farmland suddenly started rising up and gained three metres (almost 10ft) in height.
The incident happened around noon on Saturday when the farmer, surnamed Cai, was picking vegetables near Jieyang city in Guangdong province.
The farmer said he looked up to see the plot of the land rising up into the air, the Guangzhou Daily reported on Monday.
“It felt so creepy and I could hardly eat that day,” he said.
The area of land, about 1,340 sq metres (14,400 sq ft) in size, has now become a small hill.
The local authorities in Jieyang, Guangdong province were called in to investigate and concluded that there was a rational explanation and ruled out the prospect of an earthquake.
The investigators found there was an old pond underneath the land and the area had been reclaimed for agricultural use about seven decades ago.
A large quantity of stone powder had recently been dumped in the area and it had seeped underground, causing the silt underneath the land to swell up to the surface.
