A prehistoric mushroom?

A dinosaur egg?

An alien egg and pod just waiting to open wide and spit something out at your face?

Honestly, if you came across this weird-looking rock formation here in Wyoming, what would you think?

Wyoming Geologist Myron Cook devoted one of his YouTube posts to exploring what might have caused this.

That video is below.

At one point in the video, he was surrounded by a small field of these round domes.

Honest, I was expecting one to flower open.

Next thing he would be staggering back trying to detach an alien from his FACE!

Thankfully that never happened.

Honestly, I was worried for a while there.

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Okay, so what formed these things and why the round bocce ball in their centers?

Myron never just comes out and says it in his videos.

Each video takes us through the work of laying every possibility on the table, and then eliminating them until we have the most plausible answer.

In other words, he is showing us how to think about geology.

That way if we are ever on our own and wondering how something got the way that it is, we will have a method of thinking that will lead us to a plausible conclusion.

But I'm sure you're still wondering 'SO, WHAT THE HECK CAUSED THESE THINGS?'

The short explanation is below. But it's not as interesting as what Myron has to say.

Here is Myron's video. 

Picture a little something like a bug or a stick getting stuck in ancient sediment.

Over time more sediment begins to build up around it, making a ball, then an outer casing.

The layers harden like cement.

Over time erosion exposes it all.

Sorry, no dinosaur poop or alien eggs.

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