Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Sliding Rocks Bemuse Scientists

Posted by kdawson on from the no-footprints dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Scientists can't figure out why these rocks — weighing up to several hundred pounds each — slide across a dry lake bed. The leading theory proposes that wind moves the rocks after a rain when the lake bed consists of soft and very slippery mud.

2 of 433 comments (clear)

  1. Answer on page 42 ... by foobsr · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ... literally:
    Quote: "Research of the Racetrack has continued. In the April 1997 GPS World, Paula Messina, Phil Stoffer and Keith C. Clarke reported a GPS study they conducted of the Racetrack. In ten days of intense field work they mapped every featured of the playa using differential GPS to produce, "the first-ever, complete, georeferenced, submeter-resolution map of the wandering rocks." (Messina, 1997, p. 42)"
    http://sophia.smith.edu/~lfletche/deathvalley.html

    But it seems they have no real conclusion too.

    What about 'The Force"?

    CC.

    --
    TaijiQuan (Huang, 5 loosenings)
  2. One possibilty by edwardpickman · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'd be curious if the under sides of the sliding sliding stones were concave? Why I mention it is I still remember a certain chinese restaurant's tea cups had a habit of sliding across the table. The table tops were resin coated and the concave cups tended to capture moisture under them so when the tea heated the moisture under the cup the expansion provided enough lift to break the friction and allow them to slide. They would move randomly in different directions then stop for a few minutes then slide again. Since the area is hot a unique combination of heated rocks with slippery mud and wind could in combination cause the effect. I remember that some rocks slid and others didn't as well as the direction changes.