Mystery around rock formation that was split perfectly in half

From time to time we get a stern reminder of just how cool and powerful mother nature is, and the Al Naslaa rock formation in Saudi Arabia is a perfect example.

If you saw the rock itself you'd be forgiven for thinking it was a man-made sculpture of two giant boulders resting on small pedestals, separated from one another by nothing more than a single, smooth crack.

It looks like the sort of thing human hands would be required to design, but this incredible rock formation in the Saudi Arabian desert was made by time and nature – although exactly how it got the way it is has become something of a mystery.

Then again, this is also the kind of natural phenomenon that makes people think aliens have been visiting and leaving behind vandalised monuments.

If you're the type to believe in visitors from outer space, looking at Al Naslaa could make you think that flying saucers with space lasers have been cutting up rocks for fun.

Twitter/@archeohistories

There are several theories (beyond aliens) as to how this rock formation developed the way it did, with two huge boulders mounted on small pedestals and a crack in between.

According to IFL Science, the rock formation almost certainly owes its strange existence to the wonders of nature and the weathering process.

One such theory is that the rock formation sits on a fault line, and used to be one chunk of stone before splitting apart.

It then goes on to suggest that over time the wind rushing through the crack carried grains of sand that eroded it into a smooth gap rather than a jagged divide.

Another suggestion is that the crack formed naturally and by pure chance it was perfectly smooth – which wouldn't be out of the question in the case of a giant rock splitting up.

Disdero via Wikimedia Commons

Others posit that the crack in the rock could be due to water from ancient times, with the water freezing and thawing over time to force the gap open bit by bit before leaving a perfectly smooth divide.

There's a scientific explanation for the pedestals the rocks sit on too, as gusts of wind closer to the ground wear away the rock's base faster than the rest of it.

Since the rock is sandstone, it wouldn't actually be that hard for humans with tools to break it down given a little bit of determination – but this all leads back to the burning question of why someone would do it?