Racetrack Playa mystery in Death Valley solved.
Definitive answer to why Death Valley rocks move.
Researchers began an elaborate study in 2011, and they finally hit the jackpot in December of 2013.
For decades, scientists have been trying to figure out how rocks moved across a dry lake bed and left trails behind, but now they know blown ice sheets cause it
(http://cdn.grindtv.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/IMG_2986-789x1024.jpg)
The phenomenon of the "sailing stones" on Racetrack Playa in Death Valley National Park has baffled scientists for decades.
By some mysterious force of nature, rocks move along the flat-as-a-pancake playa and leave long trails behind. What causes the stones to move?
One popular theory was that strong winter winds upward to 90 mph combined with just enough rain to make the clay slippery caused the stones to "sail."
Another is that ice sheets pick up the rocks, or ice forms around the rock enabling it to move with the wind, leaving a series of rock trails.
But now, the mystery is solved.
Scientists can say conclusively that these synchronized trails left by rocks, some up to 700 pounds, are caused by thin sheets of ice pushing the rocks across the desert floor under certain conditions, a theory that had been previously dismissed in 1976 after a test.
The conclusion was reached by a team led by paleobiologist Richard Norris of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, with the results published Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE.
Scripps Oceanography details the phenomenon in this six-minute video (it also illustrated the event on a whiteboard):
http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/nature/post/racetrack-playa-mystery-death-valley-solved/
Cool, now posted on You Tube :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyHcs7B27Zk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyHcs7B27Zk