Vardoger
Make mine a 99
- Joined
- Jun 3, 2004
- Messages
- 6,647
- Location
- Valaskjalf (Ex. pat.)
Trovantii – the strangest ‘living stones’ in Romania
Posted by: Ramona Ciortescu in TRAVEL April 5, 2015Comments Offon Trovantii – the strangest ‘living stones’ in Romania
Trovantii are sandstone formations with a texture more solid than the layer they grow in. They tend to grow spontaneous, from the center to the periphery, the deposition rate can reach 4-5 cm in 1200 years.
More than 10 to 15 million years ago, a large part of Oltenia region was covered by the Getic Lake. The sand and gravel were taken by the waters and deposited to one side of the lake, in the area where the natural reservation is today.
Experts who have studied the phenomenon explain that such geological formations are usually formed in a riverbed and can also be found, but on a smaller scale, in other places in Valcea County than in Costesti village.
Trovants from Costesti became a study subject immediately after the Revolution, but turned into a tourist attraction only in 2005, after the area was declared a natural reservation. Popularly known as ‘dorobanti’, ‘balatruci’, ‘living stones’ or ‘stones that grow after the rain’ trovantii’ have bizarre shapes, spherical or ellipsoidal, and different sizes, from a few centimeters to a few meters. Costesti is the only place in Europe where you can find a natural reservation with geological formations which are the result of cementing produced millions of years ago.
Locals believe the geological formations are ‘living stones’ with an unusual power which protects those who comfort and water them. People living in the area have already purchased ‘talismans’, smaller stones that can be admired in their yards or gardens.
‘These geological formations grow only when they form and can be the size of a fist or can reach the size of those in Costesti. Trovants from Costesti exposed probably after an earthquake or a sliding. They actually roll over that sandy wall on the wayside’, researcher Gheorghe Ploaie told Adevarul.
http://www.romaniajournal.ro/trovantii-the-strangest-living-stones-in-romania/
Warning for robotic voice in video: