This is so fascinating; the reason that structures form in a certain way is something that has puzzled me for a long time. Some rock formations look like man-made objects and others look like living organisms.
There is now a new theory that explains why this resemblance exists. If you can muster it to read; here the article on this subject.
https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-new-thermodynamics-theory-of-the-origin-of-life-20140122/A few quotes.
If a new theory is correct, the same physics it identifies as responsible for the origin of living things could explain the formation of many other patterned structures in nature. Snowflakes, sand dunes and self-replicating vortices in the protoplanetary disk may all be examples of dissipation-driven adaptation.
Wilson Bentley
Scientists have already observed self-replication in nonliving systems. According to new research led by Philip Marcus of the University of California, Berkeley, and reported in Physical Review Letters in August, vortices in turbulent fluids spontaneously replicate themselves by drawing energy from shear in the surrounding fluid.