The mystery of Morakot Stones is not dinosaur eggs, and the formation mechanism is unknown.

Next to the 1 highway between umaru and Dunedin, there is a beach named "Morlacchi". When the sea ebbs, there will be more than 50 boulders on the beach, just like the eggs laid by monsters in the sea. These scattered big stones come in different shapes and sizes. The smaller stones are about 30 cm in diameter and the larger stones are 2.2 meters long. Some are round and smooth, some are cracked and broken, some are empty, and some are full and solid. Anyone who has visited these huge stones will be confused about what they are and where they come from. This is a tourist attraction in New Zealand, "Morlacchi Stonehenge", which is also quite famous.

According to the legend of some Maori living in Morakot Beach, when the first batch of New Zealand immigrant ships landed, some gourds fell into the sea from the ship. Over time, the gourd that fell into the sea became a boulder. Another part of Maori believe that these megaliths came from the great voyage of 1000 years ago. The Arede Oulu, which once dominated the ocean, was attacked by stealth and suffered heavy losses. In the process of capsizing, the gourd and sweet potato on board fell into the sea. The soul of the drowning man was attached to the gourd and sweet potato and washed ashore by the sea together. With the passage of time, these gourds and sweet potatoes have become huge stones, and the souls of the crew have been guarding this sea area. Although the Maori legend is not credible, scientists are at a loss as to the origin of Morlacchi Stonehenge. They put forward many hypotheses, but could not find strong evidence.

Geologists in New Zealand believe that the Morlacchi Stonehenge was formed between Eocene and Paleocene (65 million to 33 million years ago). Relevant statistical results show that among more than 50 boulders on Molaki Beach, one third have a diameter of 0.3m to 1 m, and two thirds have a diameter of1.5m to 2m. Qiu Xiaoping, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, believes that under the influence of ocean tides and weathering, some broken and hollow boulders will gradually decompose and disappear completely in about 100 years, while relatively complete boulders have the ability to resist tides and weathering, and they will always exist. In addition to more than 50 boulders on the beach, there are many boulders buried in the mud on the beach.

The world has been speculating about the origin of the megaliths in Morlacchi, thinking that these megaliths may be dinosaur eggs of some marine dinosaurs, souvenirs left by aliens, cultural relics left by ancient civilizations and so on. Qiu Xiaoping thinks that the above speculation is too wild and unconstrained. A credible theory holds that these megaliths were born in plate movement and volcanic activity, and basalt formed by volcanic eruption is buried in mud rocks on the seabed. In the process of plate movement pushing, squeezing and moving up these basalts, these basalts collide with other rocks and gradually grind away the edges and corners. Coupled with the friction of silt, these basalts become spherical and the surface is very smooth.

However, Su Xin, a professor of geology at China Geo University, disagreed with Qiu Xiaoping. She believes that Morlacchi megalith originated from nodule structure in sedimentary rocks, not basalt formed by volcanic eruption. About 4 million years ago, some seabed sediments contained calcium carbonate, which reacted with clay, crustacean remains and other substances, making these sediments adhere and accumulate, and gradually became spherical nodule structures. Since then, these nodule structures have surfaced with the plate movement and become "Morlacchi Stones". Unfortunately, the hypothesis put forward by experts has no reliable evidence, and the causes of these boulders have yet to be verified.

Small question: How do you think Morlacchi Stones were born? Welcome to leave a message for discussion.

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