Stones That Literally Grow by Themselves

[hazel]

                       

Romania may be known as the land of Dracula, heaped with bloodthirsty vampires and other creatures shaped by Hollywood imagination, but it is also a land where nature has had an interesting activity.

Far less known to the world then Dracula, stand an impressive number of stones which quite literally grow by themselves. This may be a great subject for the next Stephen King novel, living stones attacking a group of American scientists trying to investigate the roots of Dracula’s legend. The stones are real and known to mortals as Trovants.

                       

Near a village, just south of central Romania a number of stone formations with alien features lie dormant, witnesses to the passing of time; that is â€" until it rains. Not long after the last drops of water fall, they begin a multiplication process. Small oval or round blain-like forms appear on the upper part of them. Many people are amazed and even locals are impressed when after heavy rainfall these rock formations begin to ‘live.’ Locals have aptly dubbed them, “growing stones.”

                         

Trovants have a hard stone core but their shells are made of sand, as most examples have been found in sandy regions. Geologists argue that the rocks are the result of a cementation process that occurred millions of years ago in this region and it is somehow accepted that their creation has its roots in the early diagenesis. Scientifically these stones are sandstone concretions and the weird forms are achieved by an irregular secretion of cement.

In 2006 a museum was built to host some of these remarkable pieces. Within the walls and outside of the “Muzeul Trovantilor” (Trovant Museum) in Costesti, a village in the Valcea region, visitors can see various Trovants in different shapes and sizes from small examples to some that are over 10 meters tall.

                         

http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com

[grazie7y]

Interesting!

[ms da binsi]

hala!!!

evolusheen naman na!!!

[Lorenzo]

hehe, biogeochemistry in its 'cute-cute' form.

[kiamoy]

if isa ani nga stone dad-on dre sa ato, mutubo pa pud kaha?

[Lorenzo]

I say you try it, Kiams.

[kiamoy]

hehe! lors.serious no nga question..pure innocence..hmp!:)
btaw lors.. im too curious.. sus! if pwede lang ko mupunit!
but i still wont.. it might be cursed!

[Lorenzo]

Kiams, you're too cute. Perhaps we can ask a fellow TB member who lives near the region to get one as a token. And transport it Bohol. We can make a pseudo-scientific observation if the stone will grow in the Philippines.

[ytesski]

                     

                        

Kini kay mura ug itsura ug turkey nga hapit na i-roast.

Freaky man ni nga mga stones oi.

[kiamoy]

hahaha.. it is still scary!!

[ytesski]

I mean creepy not freaky.

[kiamoy]

Mga ate. familiar or do you remember katong plant craze thing? I think it was late 90's to early 2000's.. kato gane i-humol sa planggana and this white flaoting thingy multiplies.... and it smelled like vinegar.. Mom's friends grew it.. Mom didn't the smell was too yuck and it was creepy pud.

[ytesski]

Mga ate. familiar or do you remember katong plant craze thing? I think it was late 90's to early 2000's.. kato gane i-humol sa planggana and this white flaoting thingy multiplies.... and it smelled like vinegar.. Mom's friends grew it.. Mom didn't the smell was too yuck and it was creepy pud.

ask daw imo Mom unsa to nga plant Bem? Di pod to nako mahinumduman Bem how yucky the smell kay wa man ko sense of smell oi.

[kiamoy]

I think fortune plant or Living Bread.. hehe
it also mysteriously grows..

[ytesski]

I think fortune plant or Living Bread.. hehe
it also mysteriously grows..

never heard of it. sounds creepy to me.

[Lorenzo]

Guys,

It's all biogeochemical.

These stones get larger when water containing dissolved calcite or quartz causes other surrounding grains of whatever stuff is available to be cemented to the stone in an accretionary manner. In fact this is a mechanism for sedimentary rocks to form from individual grains of sand or flecks of mud.

These 'cute stones' are nothing more than just a manifestation of the said processes.