Distinctly Montana Magazine

D I S T I N C T L Y M O N T A N A M A G A Z I N E • F A L L 2 0 2 1 26 and olivine-rich stones weathered away over time, leaving behind a hill of mafic rock that later froze, thawed, and shattered, breaking into the blocks we see today. "Others believe that the jointing in the intrusive rocks caused blocks to crack and over time gravity caused the blocks to fall over on themselves, creating open space," Joan said. Her late father, geologist John Gabelman, believed the Ringing Rocks were formed after magma, fluid, or gas caused an uplift and created space beneath the surface of the ground. The blocks could have collapsed into the space and shattered, leaving the pile behind, John theorized. What is known about the mys- terious workings of the Ringing Rocks is that the quantity of air- space between the boulders plays a key role in their music-making capabilities. "Ringing Rocks is a pile of fine- grained mafic intrusive, prismatic to angular, jumbled rocks suspend- ed on each other with nothing but air space between them," Joan explains. "The suspension of the blocks creates open space for the rocks to resonate when struck, creating melodious ringing. The fine-grained in- terlocked crystals form a dense rock that creates the ability for the rocks to ring." Without that imperative air- space, they sound like nothing more than knocking on ancient chunks of plain old rock. But perhaps the most compel- ling theory about why the Ring- ing Rocks ring can be traced back to the children who were scrambling over the boulders the day of my visit, excitedly knocking on every rock their little hands could reach. "Holy cow! That's awesome!" a little boy with wide eyes shrieked. "Where does it come from?" He examined the boulder from every conceivable angle as a lit- tle girl I could only assume to be his wise big sister tapped away on other rocks from her position above his head. "Duh," she said with exaspera- tion. "It's magic!"

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