Stone "mushrooms" are a natural phenomenon found in different countries of the world. They are, for example, in Altai and Crimea, in the Satera valley. The height of the largest is about seven meters. An even more powerful giant, who was here called the Guardian of the Valley, collapsed under his own weight several years ago. However, local residents noticed that at the same time on the slope there are new mushrooms from half a meter high. Like real mushrooms, they grow and decay over time. How is this possible? After all, we are talking about stones. True, they consist of various rocks: on top there is a heavy stone "head" made of granite, below - a dense reddish "leg" of small stones and clay rocks. But how is all this formed?
As usual in such cases, many legends, myths and fantastic hypotheses arise around the amazing formations. Representatives of science also have their own guesses.
“Scientists cannot come to a consensus on the formation of the so-called stone“mushrooms,”says Viktor Tarasenko, president of the Crimean Academy of Sciences, advisor to the directorate of the Research Institute of Agriculture of Crimea, doctor of geological and mineralogical sciences, professor.
- As a geologist, a lithologist, I had to work in different regions, and I happened to meet such formations not only in Crimea. Sometimes they have truly cyclopean dimensions. It has been noticed that the warmer the climate, the larger the size of these formations. Depending on natural conditions, they can also have a different shape, color, and consist of different species. However, the principles of their formation are similar."
According to Viktor Tarasenko, everything can be explained by the processes of accumulation of sedimentary strata on the former bottom of the oceans and seas, when the so-called facies-changeable rocks were formed due to the advancing land. In this tectonically unstable environment, various types of soils appear - silty, clayey, coarse-detrital, and so on. All this is complicated when volcanogenic-sedimentary processes are going on, which are also characteristic of Crimea and, in particular, the Sater valley.
“Geologists are often confused when instead of the predicted processes they observe a mishmash, a motley geological-sedimentary section,” says Viktor Tarasenko. “In the Crimea, where the so-called discontinuous tectonic type reigns, this happens quite often.”
Temperature regime, certain bacteria, mosses and lichens, solar radiation - all this affects the course of these processes, and first of all, less durable rocks are destroyed. The upper, dense part in this case plays a cementing, shielding role that prevents the destruction of the "mushroom". So it turns out that thanks to mobile soft rocks, the "mushroom" grows, and thanks to dense rocks, it persists for a long time, for tens and even hundreds of years.
“From a geological point of view, Crimea is like the keyboard of a giant grand piano,” says Viktor Tarasenko. - All "keys" play their own unique role. The rate of tectonic processes is 2-3 mm per year. So it turns out that for several decades, literally before our eyes, such a "mushroom" grows. The reason for this is endogenous processes that can occur at a depth of up to 100 km. In the alpine-fold area, to which we belong, there are magma centers of volcanic activity, geothermal fields with temperatures well above 100 degrees. Crimea is in an active phase, and therefore such structures can form right before our eyes. Bizarre formations in the Valley of Ghosts, stone "mushrooms", numerous caves - all this looks like a miracle, but there is no mysticism here."
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