In the Saudi Arabian desert, there's a 20-foot by 30-foot sandstone rock that's split cleanly down the middle. A parallel gap of only a couple of inches separates the two pieces. Each piece of the rock rests on its own natural stone pedestal, making it look like a piece of art or a Stonehenge style temple. Scientists aren't sure how the 4,000-year-old Al Naslaa Rock Formation ended up with such an artificial-looking gap, but Live Science offers three possibilities:
- Plate Tectonics: The gap in the rock may be a result of movements in the Earth's crust. The Al Naslaa formation is located in a region that occasionally experiences tectonic shifts. A sudden movement of the Earth's crust could have shifted and fractured the rock. However, the smoothness of the fracture remains puzzling, as a typical tectonic shift would not usually create such a polished split. It's possible that wind and water erosion over thousands of years smoothed out the fissure.
- Joint Formation: Another theory posits that the gap could have resulted from a natural joint, which is when a rock breaks apart due to factors like regional tectonics or the rock cooling, without being directly displaced. Joints often form straight lines, and subsequent erosion might have smoothed the gap.
- Freeze-Thaw Cycle: A third theory suggests that water freezing within small cracks in the rock could have caused the rock to split. Over time, repeated freezing and thawing could have expanded these cracks until they eventually joined together to form the straight gap seen today. This process would potentially have occurred during a cooler period thousands or millions of years ago.
The most likely explanation is provided by Acera Del Mundo: "Given that the formation looks as if it had been cut by a well-aimed laser, some believe that an alien descended on the Tayma Oasis and shattered the rock with advanced technology that was not available to humans at the time of its formation."
Previously:
• Two imbeciles indicted for gleefully damaging ancient rock formation on video
• Watch a wingsuit flier glide through a narrow rock formation known as 'The Death Star'
• Ecuador's famous rock formation, Darwin's Arch, collapsed
• Norwegians fundraise to re-erect phallic rock formation
• Boy Scout leaders destroy ancient formation in Utah's Goblin Valley
• Climbers fined $860,000 for drilling holes in a UNESCO protected rock formation
