You may have notice animal tracks in the sand but, have you ever seen boulder tracks? If you ever go to the racetrack in Death Valley this is exactly what you will see. Rocks at the race track seem to move without any help at all.
1. No one has ever seen a rock move at the Race track. What evidence do you have that these rocks are
moving with out human interference?
2. Develop and post a theory that explains the mysterious movements at the Racetrack.
Please be : safe polite respectful productive and responsible with your post.
93 comments:
The rocks could be moving because of the race tracks vibration.
1. You know the rocks are moving without human interference because there are no human tracks.
2. The movement is probably the effect of erosion or wind.
they could move if the cars are going fast enough the little tiny rocks could move slowly.
they could be moving cause of small vibrations under the earth or wind
i think that there is a nouf wind to move and there is wind.
i think it moves because there is some crabs that move the rocks..!!??
not trying to say ur rong they are not tiny
The mysterious moving stones of the packed-mud desert of Death Valley have been a center of scientific controversy for decades. Rocks weighing up to hundreds of pounds have been known to move up to hundreds of yards at a time. Some scientists have proposed that a combination of strong winds and surface ice account for these movements. However, this theory does not explain evidence of different rocks starting side by side and moving at different rates and in disparate directions. Moreover, the physics calculations do not fully support this theory as wind speeds of hundreds of miles per hour would be needed to move some of the stones. from wiki.com
1. there are no foot prints in the pics
2. it may be on a hill
I think that the rocks might vibrate the rocks skidder left to right that might be a good idea.
I think that the rocks might vibrate the rocks skidder left to right that might be a good idea.
One of the most interesting mysteries of Death Valley National Park is the sliding rocks at Racetrack Playa (a playa is a dry lake bed). These rocks can be found on the floor of the playa with long trails behind them. Somehow these rocks slide across the playa, cutting a furrow in the sediment as they move.
Some of these rocks weigh several hundred pounds. That makes the question: "How do they move?" a very challenging one.
The truth: No one knows for sure exactly how these rocks move - although a few people have come up with some pretty good explanations. The reason why their movement remains a mystery: No one has ever seen them in motion!
Let's learn how they are thought to move....
About Racetrack Playa
Racetrack playa is lake bed that is almost perfectly flat and almost always dry. It is about 4 kilometers long (2.5 miles - north to south) and about 2 kilometers wide (1.25 miles - east to west). The surface is covered with mudcracks and the sediment is made up mainly of silt and clay.
The climate in this area is arid. It rains just a couple of inches per year. However, when it rains, the steep mountains which surround Racetrack Playa produce a large amount of runoff that converts the playa floor into a broad shallow lake. When wet, the surface of the playa is transformed into a very soft and very slippery mud.
Are They Moved by People or Animals?
The shape of trails behind the rocks suggest that they move during times when the floor of Racetrack Playa is covered with a very soft mud. A lack of disturbed mud around the rock trails eliminates the possibility of a human or animal pushing or assisting the motion of the rocks.
Are They Moved by Wind?
NASA Racetrack Playa research
Recent research by NASA on Racetrack Playa
This is the favorite explanation. The prevailing winds that blow across Racetrack Playa travel from southwest to northeast. Most of the rock trails are parallel to this direction. This is strong evidence that wind is the prime mover or at least involved with the motion of the rocks.
Strong wind gusts are thought to nudge the rocks into motion. Once the rock begins to move a wind of much lower velocity can keep the rock in motion as it slides across the soft and very slippery mud. Curves in the rock trails are explained by shifts in wind direction or in how the wind interacts with an irregularly shaped rock.
Are They Moved by Ice?
A few people have reported seeing Racetrack Playa covered by a thin layer of ice. One idea is that water freezes around the rocks and then wind, blowing across the top of the ice, drags the ice sheet with its embedded rocks across the surface of the playa.
Some researchers have found highly congruent trails on multiple rocks that strongly support this movement theory. However, the transport of a large ice sheet might be expected to mark the playa surface in other ways - these marks have not been found.
Other researchers experimented with stakes that would be disturbed by ice sheets. The rocks moved without disturbing the stakes. The evidence for ice-sheet transport is not consistent.
Wind is the Favored Mover!
All of the best explanations involve wind as the energy source behind the movement of the rocks. The question remains is do they slide while encased in an ice sheet or do they simply side over the surface of the mud? Perhaps each of these methods is responsible for some rock movement?
Perhaps this story will remain more interesting if the real answer is never discovered!
http://geology.com/articles/racetrack-playa-sliding-rocks.shtml
wind???????
i think ice animals wind and down hill.
1. I have absolutely zero c about the rocks moving without human interference. It could be some kind of magnetic force that has to do with the magnetic plates in the Earth, or something else. It could be that humans are rolling them around when no body is paying attention.
2. My theory is that weathering from animals causes these rocks to move around, leaving tracks. But I could be wrong. It is like a mystery, so where's Sherlock Holmes when you need him? Anyway, it could be anything. Another thing is possible; ants can lift very heavy things, even though they're so small, so then they could move it.
Here's the Google answer:
In a remote corner of California's Death Valley National Park, on the floor of a dry lake bed called Racetrack Playa, can be seen the geological oddity of the sliding stones. While the force of gravity easily explains how dozens of rocks -- weighing up to 700 pounds -- could have fallen from the adjacent hillsides onto the margins of this long vanished ancient lake, it cannot explain how the rocks have moved far out onto the perfectly flat surface.
No one has ever seen the rocks actually move, but the evidence is indisputable: distinct tracks in the hard clay surface, some extending for hundreds of feet. Some of the grooves are arrow straight, while others curve, take sharp turns, or even make complete loops.
For decades scientists have plotted the tracks, analyzed the soil, and charted the weather in an attempt to solve the mystery. All of the theories involve extremely strong winds, but they differ on the exact physical process that allows the rocks to overcome friction. Is the answer mud, water, ice -- or some combination of these? What is clear is that the Racetrack is a unique opportunity for science to explain what at first appearance seems to be completely inexplicable.
Credit to thelivingmoon.com.
I think at night water freezes in small puddles and they slide on it.But they said winds will have to be 150 miles per hour for most rocks in the valley.
Sailing stones
Main article: Sailing stones
Sailing stone in Racetrack Playa
The sailing stones are a geological phenomenon found in the Racetrack. The stones slowly move across the surface of the playa, leaving a track as they go, without human or animal intervention. They have never been seen or filmed in motion. Racetrack stones only move once every two or three years and most tracks last for three or four years. Stones with rough bottoms leave straight striated tracks while those with smooth bottoms wander.
The sailing stones are most likely moved by strong winter winds, reaching 90 mph, once it has rained enough to fill the playa with just enough water to make the clay slippery. The prevailing southwest winds across Racetrack playa blow to northeast. Most of the rock trails are parallel to this direction, lending support to this hypothesis.[2][3]
An alternate hypothesis builds upon the first. As rain water accumulates, strong winds blow thin sheets of water quickly over the relatively flat surface of the playa. A layer of ice forms on the surface as night temperatures fall below freezing. Wind then drives these floating ice sheets, their aggregate inertia and large area providing the necessary force required to move the larger stones. Rock trails would again remain parallel to the southwest winds. According to investigator Brian Dunning, "Solid ice, moving with the surface of the lake and with the inertia of a whole surrounding ice sheet, would have no trouble pushing a rock along the slick muddy floor."[4]
A more recent theory[5] is that ice collars form around rocks and when the local water level rises, the rocks are buoyantly floated off the soft bed. The minimal friction allows the rocks to be moved by arbitrarily light winds.[6]
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racetrack_Playa
Its supposed to say I have no evidence in the beginning.
There is evidence that there moving because there are trails behind it. My theory is it's so hot in the day and in the night it's really cold so there for it makes the rocks move.
One early suggestion was that the rocks were driven by gravity, sliding down a gradual slope over a long period of time. But this theory was discounted when it was revealed that the northern end of the playa is actually several centimeters higher than the southern end and that most of the rocks were in fact traveling uphill.
Though no one has yet been able to conclusively identify just what makes the rocks move, one woman is coming closer to solving the mystery. For the past ten years, Dr. Paula Messina, professor of geology at San Jose State University in California, has made it her quest to understand what has bewildered geologists for decades. “It’s interesting that no one has seen them move, so I am kind of sleuthing to see what’s really going on here,” says Dr. Messina.
Many scientists had dedicated much of their careers to the racing rocks, but the remoteness of the area kept their research limited in scope. No one had been able to map the complete set of trails before the advent of a quick, portable method known as global positioning. Dr. Messina was the first to have the luxury of this high technology at her fingertips.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/life-in-death-valley/the-mystery-of-the-racing-rocks/5088/
In 1976 Robert Sharp and Dwight Carey disputed the acetate theory.
Ice is necessary for moving the rocks.
Great answer.
nice job
Ants can lift 200x there size and a lot of them they can lift a big rock.
Give credit to Bryn
Rocks are moving without human interference because there are no human tracks.
And the movement is probably the effect of erosion or wind.
NO!!!
and it mobes from wind
MAYBE THE WIND
sorry i meant "moves"
1. The evidence is that there are trails behind th rocks like it moves.
2. A theory is that the wind over time pushes the rocks and moves them. When they move they leave trails behind them.
They are moving without human interference because there are no tracks of humans there. They are probably moving because of wind.
1: No human footprints.
2: Very strong wind.
I think that if the rocks are moving without any human interference, because there are no human footprints around the rock, and another thing is that there is a trail behind the rocks without anything else behind them so how do they move, I think the wind might move them around at night.
The evidence that there is no human interferance by humans is that there are no foot prints
Gravity might be pushing the rocks
really?
the rocks are moving by them selves because the land could be uneven so that the rocks and start sliding
I think that there might of been The mysterious moving stones of the packed-mud desert of Death Valley have been a center of scientific controversy for decades. Rocks weighing up to hundreds of pounds have been known to move up to hundreds of yards at a time. Some scientists have proposed that a combination of strong winds and surface ice account for these movements. However, this theory does not explain evidence of different rocks starting side by side and moving at different rates and in disparate directions. Moreover, the physics calculations do not fully support this theory as wind speeds of hundreds of miles per hour would be needed to move some of the stones. from wiki.com
wind could probably move the rocks and posibbly by erosion to
You can tell that the rocks don't move because there are no footprints showing evidence that a human or animal moved them. I think they move because of wind and it is also possible that the surface is tilted at slight angle that we wouldn't notice.
1.) You know the rocks are not moving with human interference because there are no human tracks in the the sand, proving that the rocks are moving by themselves.
2.) I think the rocks are moving because of wind erosion.
really?
rocks probably move because of the wind and if a human moved it you would see their footprints
good job
really?
no one has been around when the rocks have actually moved. However, scientists have studied the sailing stones for decades and clear and compelling evidence indicates that the rocks do indeed move without human or animal interference.
http://www.hoax-slayer.com/moving-rocks-death-valley.shtml
I think what makes the rocks move is either erosion or maybe the rocks are magnetized.
and the fact that there isn't any human tracks in the sand.
That was a short comment SMITTY.
You can tell that the rocks don't move because there are no footprints showing evidence that a human or animal moved them. I think they move because of wind and it is also possible that the surface is tilted at slight angle that we wouldn't notice.
1.) You know that humans are not helping the rocks move because there would be footprints in the sand.
2.) I think that they move because of wind erosion.
I think that could of happen
That is really good!
2:The wind most likley moves the rocks or they are on a slope and slowly sliding down the slope like a creep not like a person but like a type of erosion.
1:The reason that we can tell because you would be able to tell if the rock rotates then their would be some deeper spots and some higher spots.
thank you :3
I think that the rocks are moving because there could be a lot of little of each cracks and move the rocks.And same times in the desert it mite rain.
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why did you do 2 before 1
They are moving because they change shape from weathering.
1. The evidence is that there are trails behind the rocks like it moves.
2. the wind over time pushes the rocks and moves them. When they move they leave trails behind them
1. We can tell because there are no human tracks proving that they moved the rocks
2. I think the wind blows them across the desert.
The race track might be slightly slanted so the rocks move but the slant might be so minor that you might not see it
I don't know exactly but most likely the wind moved the rocks
Or the gravel what most likely makes up more rocks and that is how the rocks move .
i think the rocks move because the wind erodes the ground and causes the ground to have more of a slant and gravity does the rest
1. Because there is no footprints from people.
2. I think that the rocks are moved by the wind.
1: Wouldn't their be footprints if humans moved them
2: Wind moves the rocks so that's why.
1. There aren't any foot prints in the sand
2. I think its either wind that blows the rocks or there is a small slope
One early suggestion was that the rocks were driven by gravity, sliding down a gradual slope over a long period of time. But this theory was discounted when it was revealed that the northern end of the playa is actually several centimeters higher than the southern end and that most of the rocks were in fact traveling uphill.
Though no one has yet been able to conclusively identify just what makes the rocks move, one woman is coming closer to solving the mystery. For the past ten years, Dr. Paula Messina, professor of geology at San Jose State University in California, has made it her quest to understand what has bewildered geologists for decades. “It’s interesting that no one has seen them move, so I am kind of sleuthing to see what’s really going on here,” says Dr. Messina.
Many scientists had dedicated much of their careers to the racing rocks, but the remoteness of the area kept their research limited in scope. No one had been able to map the complete set of trails before the advent of a quick, portable method known as global positioning. Dr. Messina was the first to have the luxury of this high technology at her fingertips.
I got it from: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/life-in-death-valley/the-mystery-of-the-racing-rocks/5088/
Reply
1. Humans have not moved these before because there are no foot prints. They have not been pushed by humans either. The footprints would be directly behind the rocks, and the human would have to push the rocks in a straight line. There are no trees or plants, so that eliminates the theory of trees moving the rocks.
2.I think the rocks have been pushed by wind, considering they are in the desert, and the land is flat surrounding them. They probably move about an inch a year, but nobody knows. Another way they could be moving is by the wind putting pressure on the cracks below the rocks, causing them to move forward.
The sailing stones are a geological phenomenon found in the Racetrack. The stones slowly move across the surface of the playa, leaving a track as they go, without human or animal intervention. They have never been seen or filmed in motion. Racetrack stones only move once every two or three years and most tracks last for three or four years. Stones with rough bottoms leave straight striated tracks while those with smooth bottoms wander.
The sailing stones are most likely moved by strong winter winds, reaching 90 mph, once it has rained enough to fill the playa with just enough water to make the clay slippery. The prevailing southwest winds across Racetrack playa blow to northeast. Most of the rock trails are parallel to this direction, lending support to this hypothesis.[2][3]
An alternate hypothesis builds upon the first. As rain water accumulates, strong winds blow thin sheets of water quickly over the relatively flat surface of the playa. A layer of ice forms on the surface as night temperatures fall below freezing. Wind then drives these floating ice sheets, their aggregate inertia and large area providing the necessary force required to move the larger stones. Rock trails would again remain parallel to the southwest winds. According to investigator Brian Dunning, "Solid ice, moving with the surface of the lake and with the inertia of a whole surrounding ice sheet, would have no trouble pushing a rock along the slick muddy floor."[4]
A more recent theory[5] is that ice collars form around rocks and when the local water level rises, the rocks are buoyantly floated off the soft bed. The minimal friction allows the rocks to be moved by arbitrarily light winds.[6] wikipedia.com
The vibrations could cause the rocks to move little by little from one place to another.
One early suggestion was that the rocks were driven by gravity, sliding down a gradual slope over a long period of time. But this theory was discounted when it was revealed that the northern end of the playa is actually several centimeters higher than the southern end and that most of the rocks were in fact traveling uphill.
Though no one has yet been able to conclusively identify just what makes the rocks move, one woman is coming closer to solving the mystery. For the past ten years, Dr. Paula Messina, professor of geology at San Jose State University in California, has made it her quest to understand what has bewildered geologists for decades. “It’s interesting that no one has seen them move, so I am kind of sleuthing to see what’s really going on here,” says Dr. Messina.
Many scientists had dedicated much of their careers to the racing rocks, but the remoteness of the area kept their research limited in scope. No one had been able to map the complete set of trails before the advent of a quick, portable method known as global positioning. Dr. Messina was the first to have the luxury of this high technology at her fingertips.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/life-in-death-valley/the-mystery-of-the-racing-rocks/5088
I think the rocks could be moving by really really strong wind.
The sailing stones are a geological phenomenon found in the Racetrack. The stones slowly move across the surface of the playa, leaving a track as they go, without human or animal intervention. They have never been seen or filmed in motion. Racetrack stones only move once every two or three years and most tracks last for three or four years. Stones with rough bottoms leave straight striated tracks while those with smooth bottoms wander.
The sailing stones are most likely moved by strong winter winds, reaching 90 mph, once it has rained enough to fill the playa with just enough water to make the clay slippery. The prevailing southwest winds across Racetrack playa blow to northeast. Most of the rock trails are parallel to this direction, lending support to this hypothesis.[2][3]
An alternate hypothesis builds upon the first. As rain water accumulates, strong winds blow thin sheets of water quickly over the relatively flat surface of the playa. A layer of ice forms on the surface as night temperatures fall below freezing. Wind then drives these floating ice sheets, their aggregate inertia and large area providing the necessary force required to move the larger stones. Rock trails would again remain parallel to the southwest winds. According to investigator Brian Dunning, "Solid ice, moving with the surface of the lake and with the inertia of a whole surrounding ice sheet, would have no trouble pushing a rock along the slick muddy floor."[4]
A more recent theory[5] is that ice collars form around rocks and when the local water level rises, the rocks are buoyantly floated off the soft bed. The minimal friction allows the rocks to be moved by arbitrarily light winds.[6] wikipedia.com
Some evidence that the rocks are moving on their own is that there are no footprints that show that someone was right next to the rock moving it. The picture shows the print from the rock so if someone was right next to the rock pushing it, it would also show the human footprints.
The rocks probably move because of wind erosion.
THE WIND: These rocks can weigh more then 50 pounds... I find it very unlikely that these rocks are moved by the wind... however, according to http://geology.com/articles/racetrack-playa-sliding-rocks.shtml. The moving of the rocks is a prime factor of the movement of the rocks... how?
Strong wind gusts are thought to nudge the rocks into motion. Once the rock begins to move a wind of much lower velocity can keep the rock in motion as it slides across the soft and very slippery mud. Curves in the rock trails are explained by shifts in wind direction or in how the wind interacts with an irregularly shaped rock.
MOVED BY ICE: First of all, ice, in death valley were tempatures have reached 124˚F FIVE DAYS IN A ROW!!!!!!! but lets look at what http://geology.com/articles/racetrack-playa-sliding-rocks.shtml has to say.
A few people have reported seeing Racetrack Playa covered by a thin layer of ice. One idea is that water freezes around the rocks and then wind, blowing across the top of the ice, drags the ice sheet with its embedded rocks across the surface of the playa.
Some researchers have found highly congruent trails on multiple rocks that strongly support this movement theory. However, the transport of a large ice sheet might be expected to mark the playa surface in other ways - these marks have not been found.
Other researchers experimented with stakes that would be disturbed by ice sheets. The rocks moved without disturbing the stakes. The evidence for ice-sheet transport is not consistent.
ALL INFORMATION WAS TAKEN FROM http://geology.com/articles/racetrack-playa-sliding-rocks.shtml AND I GIVE THEM FULL CREDIT.
1. Evidence that rocks move without human help is that the land there is very dry and hard, so the rocks would have to have a strong force to move them.
2. I think the reason these rocks were moving was because these areas are open so wind will over time move the rocks.
1. Evidence that rocks move without human help is that the land there is very dry and hard, so the rocks would have to have a strong force to move them.
2. I think the reason these rocks were moving was because these areas are open so wind will over time move the rocks.
I don't know exactly but most likely the wind moved the rocks
Or the gravel what most likely makes up more rocks and that is how the rocks move .
1.evidence that rocks move without help is the tracks and there on slipper sand. 2.I think there on a slop.
1. Evidence that rocks move without any human help is that the land the rock is located is dry and hard making the rock able to move with a strong force.
2. I think rocks move by themselves because the areas are so open spaced that over time wind will move the rocks.
evidence, there are no human footprints there to move the rock.
reason,rocks can slowly move over time.
1) when you see them in one place they move everyone 100 years but they do leave tracks but you can not see them.
2) every 100 years a rock will move. but it leaves a track. but what we don't know what it looks like because we have never seen one.
1. Evidence that rocks move by them selves is that the earth is dryer and harder than regular, So rocks would have a strong force to them.
2. I think that the rocks are moving is because Death Valley is below sea level and it might have a different gravity below sea level.
1 you would see foot prints if people did it.
2 I think the wind moves the rocks!
1. Some evidence could be that the gravity could move it or it grows bigger and moves.
2. I think the rocks are moving because of wind erosion.
A section of California's Death Valley is home to a strange phenomenon: Rocks that litter the landscape seem to move on their own, leaving long trails behind them in the cracked, bone-dry clay.
These wanderings have baffled scientists for more than five decades. Nobody has ever caught a glimpse of the stones actually moving, yet move they must, because the rocks' locations, and the trails they leave behind them, change over time.
A group of young scientists is taking a crack at solving the puzzle of this odd desert area known as Racetrack Playa.
Most of the wandering stones are about the size of a one-liter soda bottle and far heavier, according to Brian Jackson, a NASA scientist who has been studying the area for more than four years.
"You don't expect 20-pound (9-kilogram) rocks to go sliding across the ground very easily, but they seem to do that on occasion," Jackson said.
Jackson said crackpot theories abound to explain the stones' travels across the playa (a term for a dried-out lake bed), which is about 3 miles (4.5 kilometers) long, almost a mile and a half (2 km) across, and preternaturally flat.
"I've definitely heard aliens, magnetic fields, frat boys from UNLV" — the University of Nevada, Las Vegas — "but nothing really plausible," Jackson said. "There's no way it could really be a hoax, because if someone were pushing them you'd see footprints."
i went on a web site
PLEASE NOTE I DID NOT COPY..............WELL MAYBE :)
The sailing stones are a geological phenomenon found in the Racetrack. The
stones slowly move across the surface of the playa, leaving a track as they go, without human or animal intervention. They have never been seen or filmed in motion. Racetrack stones only move once every two or three years and most tracks last for three or four years. Stones with rough bottoms leave straight striated tracks while those with smooth bottoms wander.
The sailing stones are most likely moved by strong winter winds, reaching 90 mph, once it has rained enough to fill the playa with just enough water to make the clay slippery. The prevailing southwest winds across Racetrack playa blow to northeast. Most of the rock trails are parallel to this direction, lending support to this hypothesis.[2][3]
An alternate hypothesis builds upon the first. As rain water accumulates, strong winds blow thin sheets of water quickly over the relatively flat surface of the playa. A layer of ice forms on the surface as night temperatures fall below freezing. Wind then drives these floating ice sheets, their aggregate inertia and large area providing the necessary force required to move the larger stones. Rock trails would again remain parallel to the southwest winds. According to investigator Brian Dunning, "Solid ice, moving with the surface of the lake and with the inertia of a whole surrounding ice sheet, would have no trouble pushing a rock along the slick muddy floor."[4]
A more recent theory[5] is that ice collars form around rocks and when the local water level rises, the rocks are buoyantly floated off the soft bed. The minimal friction allows the rocks to be moved by arbitrarily light winds.[6] wikipedia.com
evidence about the rocks is that maybe the rocks don't weight much or they are hollow.
Evidence also points to the ground being dry so the rocks would have a strong force to push them or the rocks are magnetic and there is magnetism pulling them.
1.There isn't any foot prints near the rocks.
2.It probably moved by maybe very strong winds moving the rocks.
1. Evidence that rocks move without humans is the land there is hard and dry.
2. I think the reason the rocks in this photo moved is because the wind moved them because it is a open area.
1). The evidence is that erosion. Erosion can move the rocks because the force of the rock could be strong.
2). My theory is that wind and erosion. The winds would push the rocks to move and the erosion would push it a little more.
The evidence that the rocks move without interference is that if humans pushed the rocks there would be footprints. If they used something to pull them there would be tracks.
It could be the strong wind currents pushing the rocks around to whatever direction the wind is going. Which would explain all the rocks in the line moving the way.
I think the rocks move on there own because the space where they had moved is an open area and that they are sliding on the ground cause the ground is hard.
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