Land deep in a forest on the border of Italy and Austria, and you’ll discover an otherworldly range of clay structures that look like an army of pyramids, topped by little hats.
Also likened to organ pipes, the strange conical structures are almost 200 years old and the natural result of a huge storm that raged in the Val Pusteria valley, above the village of Perca in South Tyrol.
In Perca, where moraine deposits lie on the steep hillside protected from wind, conditions are favorable for the bizarre monuments to develop.
At points where the moraine contains large stones, the stone will provide a covering to keep the clay beneath dry and hard. As the clay is eroded by rain, over time a spire is created; hence the sight of small boulders balanced atop them.
They do not last forever, since when a stone covering a column falls, the pyramid will gradually begin to thin out and shrink, eventually disappearing altogether. New ones then begin to grow on the hillside higher up, and the whole process starts anew.
The Earth Pyramids of Platten, as they are known, are not the only ones to exist—there are others much, much older.
The tallest in Europe, these majestic pillars started appearing when the glaciers of the Valle d’Isarco melted, exposing the valley. During periods of rainfall, the slopes continued to erode, and just as in the Val Pusteria, where there are large stones in the mud, pillars start to rise from the ground.
The biggest and most spectacular earth pyramids might have taken thousands of years to reach full maturity, only to vanish when the boulder finally topples, leaving the clay exposed to the elements.
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