"[1] In French, such structures are referred to as Demoiselles Coiffées ("ladies with hats"), or more often Cheminées de Fées ("fairy chimneys").

In Théus, there is a concentration referred to as La Salle de Bal des Demoiselles Coiffées ("the ballroom of ladies with hats"), although these structures also exist in isolation.

[3] The ballroom is one of the best-known[4] and most attractive[5] examples in France of the structure; an earlier commentator referred to them as "some fifty bizarre columns with hairdos.

These structures arose out of Würmian moraines: heterogenous, non-stratified, and poorly consolidated conglomerate.

The summit acts as an umbrella, preventing the structure from being further eroded by rain.