Racetrack Death Valley Rock Movement Explained in Video

[colinr]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyHcs7B27Zk[/youtube]

[Bob Sihler]

For years, I have been going there at night and dragging the stones along just to mess with people. It's all a hoax.

[Marcsoltan]

For years, I have been going there at night and dragging the stones along just to mess with people. It's all a hoax.

Aha! So that was you, Bob.

[colinr]

For years, I have been going there at night and dragging the stones along just to mess with people. It's all a hoax.

Hmmmm, so the rocks ended up on the playa as some sort of graveyard for pesky cairn stones, and continue to be moved by the same human who placed them there at a very young age.

I guess folks shouldn't have been outraged about this?>>>

[Matt Lemke]

I saw this! Amazing to have figured this out...although I knew it would be caused by a thin layer of water topped by a freeze thaw cycle. It doesn't take a genius to realize that those tracks are not able to form when the ground is bone dry...even if there was somehow a windstorm strong enough to move them. The ground needs to be softened to allow those depressions to form as the rock slides over the ground.

I could have told them this years ago!

[splattski]

The movie takes all the fun out of it.

[Marcsoltan]

The movie takes all the fun out of it.

Damned scientists have to figure out answers to everything!
I should've studied something other than science myself.

[mrchad9]

I think this has been known for some time though... decades in fact. What's really cool is seeing this on video.

FortMental wrote this comment on a pic I had of The Racetrack three years ago... and it matches the explanation in the video.

It was calculated that a wind speed of 480mph was required to move such a rock over slippery mud. Ironically, the reality of these tracks is pretty mundane. All that's needed is a precise set of conditions to create such tracks: winter, precipitation, and wind.

The playa is submerged in enough water to surround these rocks. The water freezes to a depth of several inches. Additional water comes in and raises the ice AND the ice-locked rocks. A light breeze is all that is required to blow the ice around and drag the rock 'keels' through the soft mud, creating tracks. The water then evaporates leaving behind mud tracks and mystified humans.

This theory explains ALL track phenomenon and was made based on direct observation back in the 1920s and published in a respectable journal. But nobody pays attention to old guys anymore. Not even the NPS which still promulgates a "mysterious" reason for these tracks.

[Marcsoltan]

I think this has been known for some time though... decades in fact. What's really cool is seeing this on video.

FortMental wrote this comment on a pic I had of The Racetrack three years ago... and it matches the explanation in the video.

It was calculated that a wind speed of 480mph was required to move such a rock over slippery mud. Ironically, the reality of these tracks is pretty mundane. All that's needed is a precise set of conditions to create such tracks: winter, precipitation, and wind.

The playa is submerged in enough water to surround these rocks. The water freezes to a depth of several inches. Additional water comes in and raises the ice AND the ice-locked rocks. A light breeze is all that is required to blow the ice around and drag the rock 'keels' through the soft mud, creating tracks. The water then evaporates leaving behind mud tracks and mystified humans.

This theory explains ALL track phenomenon and was made based on direct observation back in the 1920s and published in a respectable journal. But nobody pays attention to old guys anymore. Not even the NPS which still promulgates a "mysterious" reason for these tracks.

This in addition to the fact the rocks would be lighter by the amount of water they displace when they are in the water.

[Matt Lemke]

That video is total bullshit . Demonic forces or the Holy Spirit are moving those rocks around

Wake up, people. And don't be deceived by overweight, satanic scientists

I hope you aren't serious...given your personality here I will give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you are being sarcastic?

[Noondueler]

Word has it that young Jedi trainees from an ancient school in the Dagobah System were deployed there to test and hone their capacity to moving basic objects with psycho-kinetic powers. It was abandoned in the 50's when the Roswell incident brought too much heat from the US Military.
Not only that, if you hang out at night around Tea Kettle Junction spirits swirl up out of the ground and dance about.
Been telling people about this shit for years. They just think I'm crazy and snicker behind my back but I know better.

[MoapaPk]

I think this has been known for some time though... decades in fact. What's really cool is seeing this on video.

FortMental wrote this comment on a pic I had of The Racetrack three years ago... and it matches the explanation in the video.

It was calculated that a wind speed of 480mph was required to move such a rock over slippery mud. Ironically, the reality of these tracks is pretty mundane. All that's needed is a precise set of conditions to create such tracks: winter, precipitation, and wind.

The playa is submerged in enough water to surround these rocks. The water freezes to a depth of several inches. Additional water comes in and raises the ice AND the ice-locked rocks. A light breeze is all that is required to blow the ice around and drag the rock 'keels' through the soft mud, creating tracks. The water then evaporates leaving behind mud tracks and mystified humans.

This theory explains ALL track phenomenon and was made based on direct observation back in the 1920s and published in a respectable journal. But nobody pays attention to old guys anymore. Not even the NPS which still promulgates a "mysterious" reason for these tracks.

Maybe I misinterpreted the explanation in the video, but it seemed like they were saying the rocks were NOT lifted, at least in the motions they observed. The ice was really thin, but had a huge surface area relative to the rocks, and was somewhat of a sail. Meanwhile the submerged surface of the playa became exceptionally slick, kind of a lubricating soup, and offered little resistance. Thus the thin "window-pane" ice sails could exert enough force on the rocks to get them moving, even if the rocks were not really frozen to the ice sheets. The force was exerted parallel to the ice sheet, so the "window panes" didn't simply crumble. The tracks shown were not really consistent with the "keel" idea -- often the broadest surface of the rock plowed through the mud.

Of course, we can't rule out global warming, which in general can be used to explain everything.

[colinr]

Word has it that young Jedi trainees from an ancient school in the Dagobah System were deployed there to test and hone their capacity to moving basic objects with psycho-kinetic powers. It was abandoned in the 50's when the Roswell incident brought too much heat from the US Military.
Not only that, if you hang out at night around Tea Kettle Junction spirits swirl up out of the ground and dance about.
Been telling people about this shit for years. They just think I'm crazy and snicker behind my back but I know better.

Nah, dude, you're not crazy! My son brought some of his Star Wars toys there once. He left his R2D2 out while we took a meal break, luring the Jawas out.




My son got angry and went all Anakin on those little buggers. The results weren't pretty. I buried them in the Ubehebe Mine. Shhhhh! I don't want anymore trouble!