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The Racetrack

Death Valley, California, USA. Rocks moving across the playa and leaving a trail. The mechanisms are still controversial, but it seems to occur when there are strong winter winds while the playa is wet and extremely slippery.

It isn't restricted to Racetrack Playa--I've seen similar trails left by things like abandoned tires on other playas. The unusual thing about Racetrack seems to be its being adjacent to cliffy outcrops that can drop rocks on the playa! Most playas are out in the flats, remote from any source of objects that could fall on them to be pushed.

UPDATE: Just in the last couple of years, the stones have finally been seen to move. (Some of them were wired for GPS!) It turns out thin ice sheets are acting as sails:
www.nature.com/news/wandering-stones-of-death-valley-explained-1.15773
As I noted above, I've seen similar trails on other playas, involving things like old tires, so it's not just the Racetrack!
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9 comments

slgwv said:

Thanks!
11 years ago

Pam J said:

Brilliant !
11 years ago ( translate )

slgwv said:

Thanks, everyone!
11 years ago ( translate )

slgwv replied to William Sutherland:

Thanks!
11 years ago

slgwv said:

It's worth the 30ish miles of dirt road if you're ever in Death Valley.
11 years ago

slgwv said:

Thanks, everyone! As I've said, it's worth the 30 miles or so of dirt road--even tho the roads get a lot more traffic than you might expect given their condition. The area is surreal. Be sure to get to the south end of the playa--that's where most of the moving rocks are.
11 years ago

Spo said:

What a story, what a picture!
9 years ago

slgwv replied to Spo:

Thanks! It's definitely worth the 25 miles or so of dirt road--
9 years ago