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Natural attractions of Turkmenistan: the mystery of "kelle dash"

13:2701.10.2021
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A large accumulation of boulders-spheroids is located at the foot of the Koytendag ridge, ten kilometers northeast of the village of Leili-mekan. The natural landmark is called "kelle-dash", which means "head-stone": the sloping slopes are dotted with large stone balls. Here you can count up to 200 such specimens with a diameter of 30 centimeters to two meters.

Scientists still argue about their nature: how quickly they arise, why they stop growing, from which they are of the correct spherical shape and are clearly separated from the surrounding rocks.

It is believed that they could have formed during the eruption of volcanoes, including mud volcanoes. It is believed that they were formed millions of years ago by accretion and mineralization of rock layers around the remains of the organic base, reports Shaniyaz Menliev, head of the scientific department of the Koytendag State Natural Reserve on the website of the State Publishing Service of Turkmenistan.

Some of the stones are split as if they were "cut" in half. Why is this so? Near the city of Magdanly, the balls are scattered over an area of up to a hectare, have similar dimensions as on the "kelle-dash": there are perfectly round shapes and curvy ones with bizarre outlines.

Such natural creatures of enormous size are found all over the world - in Central America, New Zealand, Romania, Brazil. The most famous are in New Zealand, Bosnia and on the Russian Arctic island of Champ.

There are dozens of places on the map of Turkmenistan where you can see such objects.

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