…Two pieces of brownish rock found in the surf zone of Avaza beaches would not stand out against a number of stones if they did not attract magnet and have the traces of melting typical of visitors from outer space. The both stones appeared to be the parts of an iron meteorite broken apart after it had felt on the ground.
Thousands of Turkmen citizens and guests to our country spent their summer holidays in Avaza this year. And many of them took the souvenirs gifted by the generous sea - nacreshells, stones with birds’ footprints or pebbles of extraordinary colour and form polished by waves with them as a remembrance of the hospitable land.
The ribbed mill-stone fragments of various sizes are found on the Caspian coast. Some of them look like ragged thick ropes of anchor bays, the others are as if large pieces of the convoluted disc of giant ram’s horn. These are the remains of cephalopod molluscs – ammonites that received their name from the temple images of the ancient Egyptian God Ammon, who, according to the legend, according to legend, had a crown with similar horns. Famous military leader Alexander of Macedon, who was extremely popular both among the peoples of Europe, and in the East, where he was known as Iskander Zulkarneyn - Alexander two-horned, wore such a helmet during battles.
These findings are valued as rare souvenirs. As these fossilized remains of creatures inhabited the archaic Caspian Sea hundreds of millions of years ago allow us to touch the rock history of extinct worlds.
The museums in the resort town of Turkmenbashi exhibit the fossils of ammonites preserved till our times as a whole. Some of them are not less than one meter in diameter. The larger disks of fossilized shells of the size up to two meters are found in the plains of Turkmenistan that were the ocean bottom in prehistoric times. Ammonites appeared on Earth over 400 million of years ago. After 150 million years of evolution they inhabited the Mesozoic seas despite of the competition with giant predatory fish and marine reptiles.
Sea lilies were luckier than ammonites in terms of evolutionary adaptation to the changing conditions of life. Appearing on Earth more than 500 million years ago, they are thriving in equatorial seas being represented in all oceans of the Earth. In their appearance and colour the ancient and modern lilies resemble luxury ‘flowers’ of sea anemones of the class anthozoan.
The fossilized remains of the sea lilies formed thick deposits of white limestone in the modern basin of the Caspian Sea that was a part of the ocean formation flooding the bottoms and trenches of the hypothetical continent in ancient times. It is a great piece of luck to find a fossilized sea lily safe and sound.
However, with any luck, one can get a star fallen down from the sky from the ground in Avaza. Meteors flashing with broad flourish in the sky over the seaside resort are visible all year round. But early August - the peak summer season is especially rich in meteor storms. The breathtaking spectacle of meteor showers produces an unforgettable impression on tourists.
It is tempting to see a fantastic starlit stranger in the trilobite preserved in the print of the sedimentary rock found in Avaza. However, in spite of the enormous wish to believe in incredibility, such findings, for the most part, are of prosaic origin. Nevertheless, the feeling that you are holding billion years past on the Earth in your hands, easily eliminates the disappointment at parting from fake sensation.
Thousands of Turkmen citizens and guests to our country spent their summer holidays in Avaza this year. And many of them took the souvenirs gifted by the generous sea - nacreshells, stones with birds’ footprints or pebbles of extraordinary colour and form polished by waves with them as a remembrance of the hospitable land.
The ribbed mill-stone fragments of various sizes are found on the Caspian coast. Some of them look like ragged thick ropes of anchor bays, the others are as if large pieces of the convoluted disc of giant ram’s horn. These are the remains of cephalopod molluscs – ammonites that received their name from the temple images of the ancient Egyptian God Ammon, who, according to the legend, according to legend, had a crown with similar horns. Famous military leader Alexander of Macedon, who was extremely popular both among the peoples of Europe, and in the East, where he was known as Iskander Zulkarneyn - Alexander two-horned, wore such a helmet during battles.
These findings are valued as rare souvenirs. As these fossilized remains of creatures inhabited the archaic Caspian Sea hundreds of millions of years ago allow us to touch the rock history of extinct worlds.
The museums in the resort town of Turkmenbashi exhibit the fossils of ammonites preserved till our times as a whole. Some of them are not less than one meter in diameter. The larger disks of fossilized shells of the size up to two meters are found in the plains of Turkmenistan that were the ocean bottom in prehistoric times. Ammonites appeared on Earth over 400 million of years ago. After 150 million years of evolution they inhabited the Mesozoic seas despite of the competition with giant predatory fish and marine reptiles.
Sea lilies were luckier than ammonites in terms of evolutionary adaptation to the changing conditions of life. Appearing on Earth more than 500 million years ago, they are thriving in equatorial seas being represented in all oceans of the Earth. In their appearance and colour the ancient and modern lilies resemble luxury ‘flowers’ of sea anemones of the class anthozoan.
The fossilized remains of the sea lilies formed thick deposits of white limestone in the modern basin of the Caspian Sea that was a part of the ocean formation flooding the bottoms and trenches of the hypothetical continent in ancient times. It is a great piece of luck to find a fossilized sea lily safe and sound.
However, with any luck, one can get a star fallen down from the sky from the ground in Avaza. Meteors flashing with broad flourish in the sky over the seaside resort are visible all year round. But early August - the peak summer season is especially rich in meteor storms. The breathtaking spectacle of meteor showers produces an unforgettable impression on tourists.
It is tempting to see a fantastic starlit stranger in the trilobite preserved in the print of the sedimentary rock found in Avaza. However, in spite of the enormous wish to believe in incredibility, such findings, for the most part, are of prosaic origin. Nevertheless, the feeling that you are holding billion years past on the Earth in your hands, easily eliminates the disappointment at parting from fake sensation.
