Racetrack Playa (national park of Death Valley, California) is famous for its moving stones. The floor of the playa (an ancient lake) is dried, scorched mud which has broken into perfect little octagons and pentagons. It's as flat as flat can be. And there are roaming rocks which seem to move on their own. The stones vary from pebble size to half ton boulders and vary in size and shape due to them breaking off the hills you see behind in the photo. 
Their tracks vary in length and go every which way from zig-zags to loops and double back on themselves. Some travel only a few feet; others go for hundreds of yards. How wind loops and doubles back on itself and zig zags? Why two rocks right next to each other take totally different paths, why some are left untouched?
For a long time the reasons why baffled
geologists and scientists who studied them until to geologists from CalTech did a seven year study on them. They concluded that the reason the rocks move is because, under specific weather conditions, rain or heavy fog or dew makes the mud slippery and wet, and the winds push the rocks around. 
These huge stones have the ability to move themselves across the dry, dusty desert floor sometimes as much as 900 FEET in a single movement. While no one has ever actually seen a stone move, Dr. Robert P. Sharp, a geologist in the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California, states that he monitored the movement of 30 stones from 1968 to 1974. Dr. Sharp states that stones move at speeds of up to three feet per second, and have been known to move as much as two miles.
At one point, Dr. Sharp and Dwight Carey, formerly of the Department of Geology at U.C.L.A, positioned iron stakes around each of the stones to measure the slightest movement. But even these posed no obstacle, once the stones started moving. Apparently these stakes didn't stop 28 of the 30 stones from escaping and moving outside the encirclement, Dr. Sharp revealed. Some immutable law of nature somehow prescribes that movements will occur only in the darkness of stormy nights. Interestingly, of the 30 stones monitored, Dr. Sharp said seven actually disappeared inexplicably and without a trace.
Any attempt of explanation has been revealed insufficient. The same Sharp proposes a combination of ice and wind that would act during the night (probably a phenomenon similar to the "pipkrakes" of the periglacial environment). He admits that at the moment every explanation is purely assumptive.
Their tracks vary in length and go every which way from zig-zags to loops and double back on themselves. Some travel only a few feet; others go for hundreds of yards. How wind loops and doubles back on itself and zig zags? Why two rocks right next to each other take totally different paths, why some are left untouched?For a long time the reasons why baffled
geologists and scientists who studied them until to geologists from CalTech did a seven year study on them. They concluded that the reason the rocks move is because, under specific weather conditions, rain or heavy fog or dew makes the mud slippery and wet, and the winds push the rocks around. 
These huge stones have the ability to move themselves across the dry, dusty desert floor sometimes as much as 900 FEET in a single movement. While no one has ever actually seen a stone move, Dr. Robert P. Sharp, a geologist in the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California, states that he monitored the movement of 30 stones from 1968 to 1974. Dr. Sharp states that stones move at speeds of up to three feet per second, and have been known to move as much as two miles.
At one point, Dr. Sharp and Dwight Carey, formerly of the Department of Geology at U.C.L.A, positioned iron stakes around each of the stones to measure the slightest movement. But even these posed no obstacle, once the stones started moving. Apparently these stakes didn't stop 28 of the 30 stones from escaping and moving outside the encirclement, Dr. Sharp revealed. Some immutable law of nature somehow prescribes that movements will occur only in the darkness of stormy nights. Interestingly, of the 30 stones monitored, Dr. Sharp said seven actually disappeared inexplicably and without a trace.
Any attempt of explanation has been revealed insufficient. The same Sharp proposes a combination of ice and wind that would act during the night (probably a phenomenon similar to the "pipkrakes" of the periglacial environment). He admits that at the moment every explanation is purely assumptive.
Don Spalking is superintendent of Death Valley National Monument. He knows Dr. Sharp, and he knows the doctor's research to find out what really makes the stones move. "The experts have been coming here for years" he says, "But no one has actually seen a stone move. We know they do it, but we don't know how or why".
One of the rangers of the park said he thinks it has something to do with magnetics underground.
He said some of it could be wind for sure and that the mud did get slippery when it was damp or wet, but that didn't explain how two rocks right next to each other could go in two opposite directions or one could stay put while one three times the size, didn't. He stated that he's seen the rocks moving long distances when it's perfectly dry out and there is NO wind, or the "conditions" that are said to be needed for it to happen just weren't there. Since it's a desert it rarely rains except during monsoon season, and at times it does get very foggy in the morning, yet the rocks do this all year long.
Can the only force of wind move of the stones on a frozen surface? And how could this lake cover itself of ice or hoarfrost during the night? We are in a desert in California!
And so the scientists continue to research and study the secret of the mysterious moving stones of Death Valley, California, in another classic example of the unexplained.
There are some things in nature that you can't argue with. Rocks are heavy. Rocks are inanimate. Rocks are just plain stone-dead.
Yet, there is a place in the world where the rocks seem to just get up and move when no one is looking.
If you wish to visit this strange place you better be well prepared. These rocks with legs are located on the Racetrack Playa in Death Valley, California. Yes, you read it right. Death Valley. At nearly 300 feet below sea level, Death Valley has the honor of being the lowest, hottest, and driest point in the United States. Downright deadly.
Racetrack Playa is actually a three-mile long dried up lake. Surrounding the lakebed are fairly rugged mountains, which help to channel the winds at high speeds through the valley below.
Okay, I can hear your brain screaming all the way over here - What about those moving rocks?
The rocks range in size from small pebbles to large boulders. Some of these dolomite rocks can weigh up to 700 pounds. Not exactly something the average human being can lift (I'll assume that you are not related to Hercules or Charles Atlas).
These rocks definitely move. Since the playa lakebed is essentially dried mud, the trails of these buggers can be clearly seen. As the rocks move, they create long, shallow furrows that trail behind. The larger boulders can form trails that are up to 200 feet long. The smaller, more lightweight rocks can move over 600 feet in a single advance.
So what is causing these rocks to move?
Many would guess that it was aliens from outer space or divine intervention, but there is no reputable person that has ever put forward either of these theories. We'll leave the Martian theory for the crop circle fanatics.
Sorry, but when it comes to these moving chunks of calcium magnesium carbonate, we have to depend on legitimate scientific theories and experimentation.
At first thought, one would tend to think that gravity is simply pulling these rocks downhill. But this theory can be quickly ruled out. The playa is so flat that just two inches of rainwater will cover the entire lakebed on a calm day.
Way back in the 1950's, when the scientists started to study this phenomenon, it was believed that the rocks moved due to the combination of high-speed winds coupled with a slick, muddy lakebed (only two inches or less of rain is received each year). The mud becomes so slick that it acts like it is treated with WD-40 lubricant. Couple that with the howling winds and those rocks will just glide across that playa.
One scientist, Dr. Robert P. Sharp, supports this theory. Sharp, a professor of geology at the California Institute of Technology embarked on a seven-year study of this curious wonder. He tagged the positions of thirty stones and watched them for about one year. He recorded the weather conditions after each move. To no one's surprise, all but two of them moved in the directions of the prevailing winds. A nine-ounce stone moved 690 feet in one giant slide. Another stone moved 860 feet in a series of moves.
Another geologist, John Reid, has come up with an alternative theory. Reid was out on a field trip with a group of students back in 1991. They arrived to Racetrack Playa right after melting snows had left about five centimeters of water on the lakebed. The mud formed from this meltwater was downright slippery - one of his students slid between five and six meters. But when Reid tried to move modest sized rocks (25 kg), they wouldn't budge. From this he concluded that the wind could not solely move the rocks (yet a 200 pound person easily slides along with no wind?).
Back at his lab at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, Reid put forward an alternative theory. He proposes that the meltwaters form a thin layer of ice at its surface. Of course, this ice freezes to the rock surface. Friction due to the wind blowing over the large surface area of the frozen water causes both the ice and the rocks to move together.
So which theory is correct? No one knows. Remember, no human has ever seen these rocks in actual motion - they have only seen the end result. It is clear, however, that the conditions needed to get these rocks moving are very extreme in terms of climate. Therefore, it is possible that no one will ever be around when one of these rocks decides to get up and speed away.
Of course, maybe it was the Martians...
Yet, there is a place in the world where the rocks seem to just get up and move when no one is looking.
If you wish to visit this strange place you better be well prepared. These rocks with legs are located on the Racetrack Playa in Death Valley, California. Yes, you read it right. Death Valley. At nearly 300 feet below sea level, Death Valley has the honor of being the lowest, hottest, and driest point in the United States. Downright deadly.
Racetrack Playa is actually a three-mile long dried up lake. Surrounding the lakebed are fairly rugged mountains, which help to channel the winds at high speeds through the valley below.
Okay, I can hear your brain screaming all the way over here - What about those moving rocks?
The rocks range in size from small pebbles to large boulders. Some of these dolomite rocks can weigh up to 700 pounds. Not exactly something the average human being can lift (I'll assume that you are not related to Hercules or Charles Atlas).
These rocks definitely move. Since the playa lakebed is essentially dried mud, the trails of these buggers can be clearly seen. As the rocks move, they create long, shallow furrows that trail behind. The larger boulders can form trails that are up to 200 feet long. The smaller, more lightweight rocks can move over 600 feet in a single advance.
So what is causing these rocks to move?
Many would guess that it was aliens from outer space or divine intervention, but there is no reputable person that has ever put forward either of these theories. We'll leave the Martian theory for the crop circle fanatics.
Sorry, but when it comes to these moving chunks of calcium magnesium carbonate, we have to depend on legitimate scientific theories and experimentation.
At first thought, one would tend to think that gravity is simply pulling these rocks downhill. But this theory can be quickly ruled out. The playa is so flat that just two inches of rainwater will cover the entire lakebed on a calm day.
Way back in the 1950's, when the scientists started to study this phenomenon, it was believed that the rocks moved due to the combination of high-speed winds coupled with a slick, muddy lakebed (only two inches or less of rain is received each year). The mud becomes so slick that it acts like it is treated with WD-40 lubricant. Couple that with the howling winds and those rocks will just glide across that playa.
One scientist, Dr. Robert P. Sharp, supports this theory. Sharp, a professor of geology at the California Institute of Technology embarked on a seven-year study of this curious wonder. He tagged the positions of thirty stones and watched them for about one year. He recorded the weather conditions after each move. To no one's surprise, all but two of them moved in the directions of the prevailing winds. A nine-ounce stone moved 690 feet in one giant slide. Another stone moved 860 feet in a series of moves.
Another geologist, John Reid, has come up with an alternative theory. Reid was out on a field trip with a group of students back in 1991. They arrived to Racetrack Playa right after melting snows had left about five centimeters of water on the lakebed. The mud formed from this meltwater was downright slippery - one of his students slid between five and six meters. But when Reid tried to move modest sized rocks (25 kg), they wouldn't budge. From this he concluded that the wind could not solely move the rocks (yet a 200 pound person easily slides along with no wind?).
Back at his lab at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, Reid put forward an alternative theory. He proposes that the meltwaters form a thin layer of ice at its surface. Of course, this ice freezes to the rock surface. Friction due to the wind blowing over the large surface area of the frozen water causes both the ice and the rocks to move together.
So which theory is correct? No one knows. Remember, no human has ever seen these rocks in actual motion - they have only seen the end result. It is clear, however, that the conditions needed to get these rocks moving are very extreme in terms of climate. Therefore, it is possible that no one will ever be around when one of these rocks decides to get up and speed away.
Of course, maybe it was the Martians...
