Death Valley Secret: Moving Rocks
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The world is full of mysteries, and most of them are still unveiled. The most lifeless place on Earth, the Death Valley (the state of California) is famous for its Racetrack Playa lake.
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The world is full of mysteries, and most of them are still unveiled. The most lifeless place on Earth, the Death Valley (the state of California) is famous for its Racetrack Playa lake. However, the most curious thing here is not the absence of water but a presence of the so-called “sailing stones”, moving rocks. Read about it interesting news here.
Moving rocks — how do they do it?
No one can say how and why stones crawl along the bottom of the lake. Falling off from the dolomite hill, the boulders reach the bottom of the dried lake, and for some reason, unknown still, begin their movement. At the same time, some of these stones may pass hundreds of feet throughout a year, whereas certain rocks do not move actively. There is no doubt that the stones are moving: a trace stretches behind each of them is visible. Sometimes the stones turn over, which is proved by the traces left by them.
Death Valley secret
The valley got its name for the simplest reason. It is the hottest place in the USA, and the driest one. As weather forecasters observed, in 2011 the temperature reached a record high of +56.7 ° C which was almost 134.06 °F!
The uniqueness of the Death Valley lies not only in record high temperatures but also in the fact that here, stones move “by themselves”, without anybody’s help.
The lake dried up many years ago, leaving clay plain with small cells instead of water. A small mountain is located in the middle of the lake. Everything would be simple enough if, from time to time, long tracks did not appear on the surface of the plain. Usually, the direction of these tracks remains the same: from north to south or from south to north. These tracks are completely stoned.
Stones fall on the plain from the nearby mountains. Once every few days they begin their movement: they roll from place to place, turn over from side to side.
Investigations of the phenomenon
It was noticed that the stones are mainly sent to the middle of the lake. Geologist Thomas Clement was the first one who started to study it. According to his observations, the stones moved after heavy rains. He suggested that the soil, which contains clay, becomes slippery after the rains, and the wind during the rain simply moves the stones from place to place.
However, during one detailed study, Thomas noticed one strange thing. Many tracks moved in a straight line without changing their trajectory, but there were traces that sharply curtailed along the trajectory in the form of a zigzag or in general, a circle. Many geologists began to develop this theory, but no one was able to prove it. You can get more information and find more interesting news here.
Now there are a lot of different opinions about this phenomenon. Some argue that these are gravitational and magnetic anomalies. But so far, the phenomenon of moving stones in Death Valley remains the secret to all.
