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Giant Rotating Ice Disc In Westbrook, Maine Stops Moving

WESTBROOK, Maine (CBS/AP) — Maine's giant spinning ice disc that quickly gained international fame seems to have met its end.

The formation in the Presumpscot River in Greater Portland stopped rotating Wednesday, two days after a video of its mesmerizing movement was widely shared on social media.

The Ice Circle in my backyard! Check it out! It's amazing !!!!!!!!!!!!! I also want to thank everybody for sharing my video and this story of my hometown of Westbrook!!! Here's a YouTube link where I land on it! https://youtu.be/nP-l8Use1qA This is a like to my SoundCloud for the full track I created on my Roland jdxi. https://soundcloud.com/adam-farnsworth-4/starship

Posted by Adam Farnsworth on Monday, January 14, 2019

The roughly 100-yard wide disc is lodged against the river's edge, preventing it from moving.

The ice formation is believed to have formed naturally where there's a circular current that creates a whirlpool effect.

WBZ-TV Chief Meteorologist Eric Fisher says the rotation of the ice was driven by the current of the river and the temperature changes in the water underneath the ice. That created a vortex that causes it to spin.

"The shore in this case acts almost like a grinding wheel where the ice hits the coast and it starts to shave off and it creates this perfect pizza shape of the ice disc floating in the water," he said.

Social media users compared it to an alien spacecraft and the moon, and ducks used it as a big raft.

(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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