Trovants couldn’t believe they
are real. The mysterious living stones of Romania grow, when it rains and move
from one place to another without any support. The Stones of Costesti (a small
village) in Romania known as Trovants. These are type of sandstone concretion
that secrete cement and can at times appear to grow as if alive. These Trovants
are amazing geological phenomena consisting of stone core with an outer shell
of sand. The local people have different thought and claims; these are growing
stones after heavy rain, Trovants tend to appear with smooth and edgeless
shapes, cylindrical, nodular, and spherical.
They’ve strong believed that
these are type of sandstone concretion that secrete cement and can appear to
grow at times, as if they are alive. These are majestic growing rocks seems
identical look to sliding rocks of Death Valley. Trovants stones have puzzled
experts ever since their discovery. No one can say with definite how these
stones grow, and move. The perfect spherical shaped Trovants which sometimes
can be found are believed to be because of great magnitudes and durations of
the paleoearthquakes.
Trovants are Amazing Geological Phenomena When Mysterious
Living Stones Move and Grow?
Trovants is a synonym of
German term “Sandsteinkonkretionen”, which means Cemented Sand. In fact these
are mesmerizing living stones when cut had spherical and ellipsoidal rings
alike to the ones of tree trunk. There are numerous theories on Trovants
stones, as scientists are baffled by the phenomenon and some explaining the
origin and strange behavior of Trovants. There were few studies about origin of
these growing stones of Romania, and there are several hypotheses, some of them
even fantastical. Trovants were improperly considered as “sandstone concretions”.
It was found that there was no
mineralogical difference between these pseudoconcretions and the surrounding
sands, with no different nucleus inside them, and their cement is every so
often carbonate-type. Scientists have observed odd rings which resemble those
of the trees. And just like it is with the trees, the stone rings reveal the
age of Trovants. That’s why many believe Trovants are an inorganic form of
life.
The Trovants of Romania signify
diagenetic textures shiny paleodynamic conditions and correspond to precise
compactions of the sandy sediments holding locally solutions accumulated in the
sand. Therefore, during important seismic shocks and under the influence of the
internal cohesion forces tended to spherical forms. Also, the gravitation
force, seismic shocks, solution cohesion forces and the adhesion strength
between the sand grains and the liquid are believed to be involved in this
process. The hypothesis on the seismic origin of the Trovants is very well
sustained by several laboratory experiments. According to the
International Geological Congress conducted in Oslo 2008, “Trovanti” were improperly
considered as “sandstone concretions”.
There are various Trovants in
Romania which are even diversely shaped. As far as the growth of these “living
stones” is concerned, certain stones may gradually get slightly larger as the
result of absorbing water, in this case, the accumulations and deposits of
minerals cemented by waters rich in calcium carbonate seems to be the reason. Moreover,
there was a sedimentation basin in this area some six million years ago, and
the Trovants were not identical and complex aggregates of two ore more Trovants
can every so often be found.
Trovants stone are unusually
tough to break or smash. Generally, no one touches them, so they have the
chance to grow from little pebbles to enormous megaliths. There is a museum in
Romania, in which the fascinating stones are on display and sold as souvenirs. Even
you can plant a Trovants in your garden and wait for it to grow. The biggest Trovants
grow to more than 10 meters in height.
The growth of Trovants stones
in Romania is believed to happen when a chemical reaction sets in between the
layers of deposits and the mineral carbonates in the presence of rain
water. Hence, due to interesting ‘living
rocks’ that seem to grow, the site became a good tourist attraction for
Romania. To protect these unusual geological creations, the “Muzeul
Trovantilor” or Trovants Museum Natural Reserve is now protected by UNESCO.
Furthermore “Living stones” can also be found in Russia. A huge round stones
periodically pop up from the ground and start to grow in the fields of
Andreevka. So, if you ever go to Romania then you must have a stop at Costesti
and explore the fascinating mysterious formations that continue to amaze both
Scientists and tourists alike.