Rocks Move Across Desert Floor

Ad newser for at least a century the slithering stones of death valley rocks some of them boulders weighing more than 600 pounds that move across the desert floor and leave long trails.

Rocks move across desert floor. The mystery of the sailing stones was only solved a few years ago. How do death valley s sailing stones move themselves across the desert. When the ice begins to melt in late morning sun it may break up under light winds. In the remote almost totally dry lakebed called racetrack playa some of the rocks move themselves across the desert floor when people aren t watching.

The phenomenon doesn t happen often because it rarely rains in the notoriously hot and dry desert valley. On a dry flat desert stretch in the middle of death valley massive rocks moving across the desert floor have been puzzling visitors for decades. The rocks move about 15 feet per minute according to the report. Sailing stones also called sliding rocks walking rocks rolling stones and moving rocks are part of the geological phenomenon in which rocks move and inscribe long tracks along a smooth valley floor without animal intervention.

In order to improve our community experience we are temporarily suspending article commenting. Sailing stones also known as sliding rocks baffled geologists because they move across the desert and leave long tracks without human or animal intervention the sun reports. No one has ever actually seen the rocks move. In 2013 a team of scientists using rocks with motion activated gps units and time lapse photography captured the first video footage of the stones creeping across the desert floor.

Our goal is to create a safe and engaging place for users to connect over interests and passions. Located in a remote area of california s death valley national park the heavy stones appear to move across the dried lake bed known as racetrack playa leaving a trail behind them in the cracked.