Al Naslaa: Saudi Arabia’s mysterious rock formation

2 min read

2 years ago Robin

There are many natural occurrences that might puzzle a traveler. One of them is Al Naslaa, a 4,000-year-old geological mystery, located in Tayma oasis, Saudi Arabia, a strange rock formation perfectly split down the middle with the precision of a laser beam.
It is made up of two large sandstone boulders supported by a natural pedestal that appears much too small for its purpose.
But what really draws people’s attention is the perfect split between the two boulders.
The almost flawless split has inspired lots of speculation, and some suggesting that Al Naslaa is proof that ancient civilizations may have been more advanced than history tells us.
Either way, recent archaeological discoveries show that Tayma has been inhabited since the ancient times.
What looks like a simple crack at first glance, quickly leaves people in awe, as the break is so exact that it looks like someone cut the sandstone boulder in two with a powerful laser.
Al Naslaa is only one of many rocks in the Tayma Oasis that features a unique appearance, but’s it’s this near-perfect split that makes it stand out.

And in fact the rock formation has created confusion among geologists and historians ever since it was discovered, as no one has really been able to explain how exactly it was created.
If the smooth shapes of the two boulders and the small pedestal could be attributed to the natural elements, the perfect vertical split looks man-made.
However, most geologists believe that the smooth split has a perfectly natural cause: tectonic movement.
The earth shifted only slightly, but enough to cause the rock to crack in two. However, there are other scientists who believe that the split is really a fault line, as the material surrounding faults usually tends to be weaker and erode easier, but there are been also those who believe it was formed from a volcanic dike of some weaker mineral that solidified there before everything was exhumed.
Eventually there are also people who believe that Al Naslaa is the work of an advanced ancient civilization or that of aliens, probably because the vertical split looks too perfect to be real.