Death Valley's Sailing Stones Caught In the Act

Capt.Albatross (1301561) writes "The flat surface of the Racetrack Playa in Death Valley is littered with rocks, some weighing hundreds of kilograms, each at the end of a track indicating that it has somehow slid across the surface. The mechanism behind this has been the subject of much speculation but little evidence, until a trio of scientists caught them in action with cameras and GPS."

Comments

From TFA:

[Dins]

Jagged plates of thin ice, resembling panels of broken glass, bulldoze the rocks across the flooded playa, the scientists reveal today (Aug. 27) in the journal PLOS One. Driven by gentle winds, the rocks seem to hydroplane atop the fluffy, wet mud. "It's a wonderful Goldilocks phenomenon," said lead study author Richard Norris. "Ponds like this are vanishingly rare in Death Valley, and it may be a decade between heavy enough rain or snowfall events to make a substantial pond," said Norris, a paleobiologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, California.

Re:From TFA:

[Dins]

You wouldn't. I took one for the team and at least read enough to answer the question of how the rocks are moving so you and others wouldn't have to click the link.

Re:From TFA:

[Anonymous Coward]

That's the digested version of the actual article in PLOS One, which isn't paywalled.

One of the coolest parts is the way they instrumented "test rocks" with GPS that could stay powered for very long durations (months/years) from a small battery because of how intermittent the movement is and how remote the location is. The trick was not to engauge the GPS data logging until a magnetic switch was tripped when the rock moved. The magnet was set in the floor of the playa lake, the switch in a hole bored in the rock that also contained the GPS receiver. The instrumented rocks were brought in for the experiment and behaved the same as the natural ones on the site.

Re:From TFA:

[sumdumass]

I for one am glad that you did. The site the article calls home purley sucks. I'm on my phone and when you make the text large enough to read, a flash menu and a bunch of social networking crap floods the page so you can only see two words in a line.

its worth putting this into perspective.

[nimbius]

as a member of the illuminati im disheartened to see this. We'd gone to great lengths to insist to the public these rocks were being moved in order to control the ghost of ronald reagan in a hideous plot to destroy the secret bald eagle buried in the head of the lincoln statue that funds "president" obamas fema death camps. when does this inquisition stop? the secret transciever in your left molar has made it explicitly clear that under no circumstance were you to question the rocks. Next thing you know, people are going to start asking about chem trails and how they always make sure gary busey eats exactly one almond joy candy before meeting with the council of serpents to steal painted lines from the roads through the mojave desert that planned the shariah law anchor baby abortions after the covert resurrection of sadam hussein.