27/04/2022
The Mysterious Moeraki Boulders : New Zealand has many fascinating legends to offer. One of the country’s most intriguing tales is the Moeraki Boulders legend. Known to some as the Stonehenge of New Zealand, giant spherical stones that stand up to two metres high and weigh several tonnes, can be seen scattered along Koekohe Beach on New Zealand’s Otago coast.According to Maori legend, the boulders are what is left of a shipwrecked canoe called the Araiteuru. After the Araiteuru came into trouble at S**g Point, also know as Matakaea – it’s said that calabashes, kumaras and eel baskets were washed ashore and over time, formed the large boulders you see today .Interesting tale but the real science behind the boulders formation goes like this. It is thought the stones were created by the hardening of Paleocene mudstone which was then buried in the mudstone cliffs. The relentless pounding of waves over millennia gradually eroded the softer stone and uncovered the compacted spherical stones. As the boulders were formed by concretion, they became resistant to the weathering effects of the elements, and their cylinder shape was preserved while the softer mudstone eroded.