How Do Death Valley’s “Sailing Stones” Move Themselves Across the Desert?

[Little Star]

These mysterious rocks have puzzled scientists for decades—until one geologist found the answer on his kitchen table

Start at the Furnace Creek visitor center in Death Valley National Park. Drive 50 miles north on pavement, then head west for another 30 miles on bone-rattling gravel roads. During the drive—which will take you four hours if you make good time—you’ll pass sand dunes, a meteor crater, narrow canyons, solitary Joshua trees and virtually no evidence of human existence whatsoever. But soon after cresting the Cottonwood Mountains, you’ll come upon a landscape so out of place even in this geologically bizarre park that it almost seems artificial.

Racetrack Playa is a dried-up lakebed, ringed by mountains, about 3 miles long and flat as a tabletop. During summer, the cracked floor looks prehistoric under the desert sun; during winter, it’s intermittently covered by sheets of ice and dustings of snow. But the dozens of stones scattered across the playa floor are the most puzzling part of the view. Ranging from the size of a computer mouse to a microwave, each one is followed by a track etched into the dirt, like the contrail behind an airplane. Some tracks are straight and just a few feet long, while others stretch the length of a football field and curve gracefully or jut off at sharp angles.

Staring at these "sailing stones," you’re torn between a pair of certainties that are simply not compatible: (1) these rocks appear to have moved, propelled by their own volition, across the flat playa floor, and yet (2) rocks don’t just move themselves.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/How-Do-Death-Valleys-Sailing-Stones-Move-Themselves-Across-the-Desert-210843681.html

Those stones are amazing.

[MuseRider]

1. Really cool!

I would love to see this someday. As long as people don't steal all the rocks before I get there. People steal the rocks? For goodness sakes, what is wrong with people?

Thanks for this! I knew nothing about this and now I do. What a treasure this is.

Hit send early, the reason for my edit.

I love the answer. It would never have occurred to me that they could be moved that way. Love the scientific mind and the kitchen table.

[NV Whino]

3. I think we need to visit and take a few rocks with us to replenish the supply.

[MuseRider]

4. Great idea!

[AtheistCrusader]

7. The black sands beaches in Maui have this problem.

People steal bottles of the sand, and rocks all the time. The locals foment a story that taking them away is 'bad luck', and confirmation bias has the people who steal it sending it back in the mail all the time, as soon as they run into a little bad luck of some sort.

Humans are weird.

[MuseRider]

10. I had heard about that.

I adore Hawaii, been 3 times and want to live there but never will. Pele WILL get you.

Humans are weird.

[AtheistCrusader]

11. I've got a nice spot picked out at about 3k feet on Haleakala.

If it wakes up and takes me out? Worth it.

[MuseRider]

12. I think I would agree with that.

I had a nice spot staked out on the Big Island. It was close to Kona but up where there was the most beautiful paradise of plant life. Could not afford it. Next choice was closer to Kilauea but did not have reliable water and I was going to be moving my horses with us. Next choice I got skunk eyed out of. I have to admit to not wanting to live somewhere where the people rightfully did not want a non native. So I will stay in Kansas and vacation when I can

[NV Whino]

2. Cool

It was pretty obviously ice, but no one had ever posited a combination of ice and water.

And, I've always been puzzled why no one set up cameras to catch the movement.

[emmadoggy]

20. That's exactly what I said.

Why don't they set up some cameras? Seems simple enough to me.

Still a very cool phenomenon.

[lumberjack_jeff]

5. Assuming this doesn't become a real lake in winter, I think it's ice lensing

[niyad]

6. have been out there on the racetrack, and it is a wonderful feeling. even knowing the

scientific explanation does not take away from the sense of marvel and wonder.

[MynameisBlarney]

8. PFFFT!

Ice schmice!

This is obviously the handiwork of aliens.

How else do you explain Stonehenge?

[riqster]

16. Spinal Tap explained it

Dwarves stepping on it.

Explanation accomplished.

[MynameisBlarney]

17. DAMMITALLTOHELL Riqster!

I forgot about that.

Everyone! DISREGARD my previous post.

[riqster]

18. For the uninitiated:

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=wMVMHNG68m8&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DwMVMHNG68m8

[MynameisBlarney]

19. +1

Love that movie.

[riqster]

21. It thought it was a "mockumentary"

But anyone who has ever toured with a band knows it was pretty much factually correct. Especially about the drummers.

[MynameisBlarney]

22. Mockumentary!?!

That shit is REAL!!!!!

[riqster]

23. Yep. Even if Reiner didn't know it.

[MynameisBlarney]

24. Then...that means...

Best in Show...A Mighty Wind...

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

[tclambert]

25. Stonehenge! Right! Who can explain why the druids revered the number Pi so much?

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=&imgrefurl=http://www.dudeman.net/siriusly/ac/sh.html&h=350&w=260&sz=14&tbnid=U7bhAO4pkmzP8M:&tbnh=85&tbnw=63&zoom=1&usg=__kocSeCQDCkhSV3FC2lWcSt4x9fM=&docid=AUUXaEWkfU0vxM&sa=X&ei=Joq_UdCkBa6GyQHIloDwDA&ved=0CE4Q9QEwCg&dur=870


http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=&imgrefurl=http://ruthcatchen.wordpress.com/2012/03/14/pi-day-march-14-celebrate-the-existence-of-pi-pie/&h=371&w=350&sz=39&tbnid=ALSJl1gwtmJmcM:&tbnh=88&tbnw=83&zoom=1&usg=__5FMHrxPH0ChJJyvZOKvB3YFJtPg=&docid=J00ouuEonQdy2M&sa=X&ei=Uoq_UcHROujUygHqrYHADA&ved=0CDkQ9QEwBA&dur=6050


Maybe this guy can:

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=&imgrefurl=http://blog.donnamoderna.com/duecuorieunfornello/2012/11/07/una-torta-di-mele-per-obama/&h=228&w=200&sz=12&tbnid=rWcVZlbsYpqNdM:&tbnh=108&tbnw=95&zoom=1&usg=__waWad6Vl5qy28uoQd3Eypiu4vlM=&docid=t2fuMCrDiyv5vM&sa=X&ei=1Im_UYyxLMmJywGPrIDYDQ&ved=0CEIQ9QEwBg&dur=8697

[rpannier]

33. So... Obama is a Druid?

Someone tell the Tea Baggers
Call Fox
We have a new scandal

[OnyxCollie]

9. I love Death Valley.

It's my favorite place to visit.

[marybourg]

13. +1

[ErikJ]

14. Slick mud, gravity and/or strong wind

would be my bet.

[wercal]

26. I seem to remember seeing a special on this just a few weeks ago

And the theory was exactly that. A slight sheen of water on this hardened crust, and high winds.

[Rain Mcloud]

27. Fascinating!

[link:|

[shenmue]

28. I still think it's the elves.

No one will convince me otherwise.

[Wounded Bear]

32. Silly....everybody knows...

elves live in the forest. Was probably the dwarves. They can never decide where they want things.

[janlyn]

29. I saw a story

on this a while back. Mention was made of the fact that no one has seen them move. I questioned then whether there was a way to film the rocks on an ongoing basis.
Just something that made me go hmmmmmm.

[Xithras]

34. There have been attempts to film them moving.

It's long been known that the rocks only move during storms. The problem is that the playa is huge, and those same storms generally reduce visibility. A "wide angle" shot won't be able to spot the movement, and a closeup of individual stones would be fairly random because there are so many. Most stones don't move regularly, but will sit still for years or decades before sliding a few feet. I was reading about one stone that recently moved that had been still since the 1970's.

With modern technology, the ability certainly exists to solve the mystery. A small ground radar system tied to remotely controlled cameras routed through satellites could detect the stone movement and alert remote operators who could remotely point the cameras and film the movement. This hasn't been done simply because it would be expensive and, in the end, we're just talking about a bunch of rocks on a muddy lakebed. Unless Discovery or some philanthropist wants to fund something like that, we're probably not going to get video of them moving anytime soon.

[Javaman]

30. It's a tradition carried out by the locals for hundreds of years...

each and every night someone comes out and moves them a little bit.

[Little Star]

31. lol