I don't know anything about Rhode Island geology, but these structures resemble what are called "flute casts", which are formed on the bottom of ancient stream beds. They begin as elongated depressions that are eroded into the stream bed which then become filled with sediment. The deposited sediment is then preserved as a cast (like a plaster cast of an animal track) and are what you see here. These look rather misshapen for flute casts but could have been deformed over the millennia. This is a really cool photograph. I feel like I'm in one of my geology classes way back in college!
29 Nov 2008 12:39am
@Russ Devan: Thank you for that explanation, Russ. MJ and I were wondering how these rocks formed. They were part of a really large formation that people were walking on and were located on part of the beach. It was very interesting... and strange! Tomorrow I will post a photo of the larger formation.