The kids who had pet rocks were always the ones whose parents wouldn’t get them a pet of their own, for one reason or another. They wanted something to love and care for, and since people can assign emotions and faces to pretty much anything, it all worked out okay.
I think these rocks in Romania would have blown their minds, because they actually seem to be alive.
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They reside in the tiny town of Costesti is home to huge boulders that slowly ooze their insides out, and even seem to grow and move…almost as if they were alive.
They’re called “trovants,” but are often referred to as “living rocks.”
Despite frequent interest from both geologists and tourists, no scientific studies on them exist. Some believe they’re sandstone concretions with tough outer layers of sand, making them harder than the rocks around them. When the softer bedrock erodes, they sort of…emerge.
Like being born, maybe.
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As far as the moving and growing, scientists posit that rainwater reacts with the mineral content, causing the insides to slide out. It could also cause bubble-like growths, which can appear like a baby rock next to a parent.
That said, the rocks “grow” quite slowly, expanding around 2 inches in 1200 years, but that doesn’t make them any less fascinating to people like Florin Stoican, co-manager of the Buila-Vanturarita National Park.
“Their history is rather simple. Seven million years ago there was a delta where the present-day stone quarry is. This delta contained sediments, sandstone, and siltstone in particular, amassed and transported from across the continent by a prehistoric river. Subsequently, various mineral substances dissolved into solutions that circulated over this basin of gravel and sand.”
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They might be simple in origin, but their presence today inspires people to ask questions about the earth’s history, about the actions of minerals, and encourages interest in geology, which isn’t simple at all.
I’d say these are worth at least a day trip if you’re in the area – and you can’t find them anywhere else in the world.
