On This Day In History: Piedra Movediza – ‘Shifting Stone’ Fell And Broke – On Feb 29, 1912

MessageToEagle.com – On February, 29, 1912, the Piedra Movediza, (the “shifting stone” or ‘moving rock’) located  in Tandil, about 350 km south of the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, fell and broke.

It happened sometime between 5 and 6pm and there were no witnesses to this incident.

This 300-ton boulder – Tandil’s top attraction – was present on the hill for millennia. It was a symbol of the city since its founding in 1823.

It was found on top of a huge isolated rock hill, as part of a partially dismantled outcrop.

In 1876, the rock’s nature and origin were explained as the result of chemical weathering, with the impact of lightning partially involved.

In the vicinity of this boulder, there were also other boulders located at the top of neighboring hills.

Various theories have been given for the fall, but nobody knows the truth. One of these theories suggested that there was blasting going on at a nearby quarry and it is thought the vibrations made it fall.

In 2007, local authorities placed a hollow 12-ton replica, created by engineers at the National University of the Center of the Buenos Aires Province.

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