Pobiti Kamani

Pobiti Kamani
The Stone Desert
Rock Formations
Location within Bulgaria
Location	Varna Province, Bulgaria
Nearest city	Aksakovo
Coordinates	43°13′35″N 27°42′24″E
Area	13 sq km (5 sq mi)

Pobiti Kamani (Bulgarian: Побити камъни, "planted stones"), Tubular concretions formed around a “rising methane-bearing fluid plume” also known as The Stone Desert, is a desert-like rock phenomenon located on the north west Varna Province border in Bulgaria. It is considered the only desert in Bulgaria and one of few found in Europe.

The Stone Desert is not only a well-known European tourist attraction due to its desert-like habitat, but it is one of few places where desert-type vegetation such as cactus are known to grow. It is also the only desert in Europe in which desert reptilians and other desert-type animalia are found to thrive. The Stone Desert along with the Tabernas Desert of Spain is one of two naturally formed deserts in all of Europe and the only known naturally formed desert in Eastern Europe.

The stone pillars were first described by Russian archaeologist and historian Victor Teplyakov in 1829. In order to be preserved, Pobiti Kamani was designated a natural landmark in the late 1930s.

There are a number of theories regarding the phenomenon's origin. The pioneering hypothesis can be divided roughly into two groups: suggesting an organic or abiotic origin. According to the former, the formations are the result of coral activity (but detail investigation shows no coral), while the latter explains the phenomenon with the prismatic weathering and desertification of the rocks, the formation of sand and limestone concretions, or lower Eocene bubbling reefs.

Based on a petrographic and stable isotope geochemical study and field observations, evidence exists that these structures represent an exceptionally record of paleo-hydrocarbon seep system (low magnesium calcite cements are strongly depleted in heavy carbon isotope 13C). The pathways of fluid circulation are recorded as columns set in sands, which columns after recent sand removal gave desert-like landscape. The dynamic reconstruction of the origin of these structures, the processes of fluid migration and microbial mediation of hydrocarbon oxidation leading to carbonate precipitation have been studied by De Boever et al. (2009).

Pobiti Kamani occupies an area 8 km long and 3 km wide, running from north to south. There are seven groups of stone pillars. For example, "Dikilitash," the main group, includes over 350 stones. "Strashimirovo" features four rows of stones that are distinctive for their "bulging" middle segments.

In September 2020, Reuters reported that an image of Pobiti Kamani, photoshopped red, circulated social media under false claims that it was an "original NASA photo of Mars".

Gallery

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External links

• Pobiti Kamani - Photo gallery
• The Stone Forest - photo: I.Generalov