For 100 Years, These Giant Desert Rocks Moved on Their Own… Now We Finally Know Why
The Daily Galaxy••science
Key Points:
- For over a century, the mysterious movement of heavy rocks, known as sailing stones, across Death Valley’s Racetrack Playa baffled scientists until a 2014 study captured the phenomenon on camera for the first time.
- Researchers Richard D. Norris and James M. Norris used GPS-equipped stones and time-lapse cameras to document rocks moving up to 224 meters between December 2013 and January 2014, with some traveling at speeds of 15 feet per minute.
- The movement is caused by thin "windowpane" ice sheets, only 3 to 6 millimeters thick, which form overnight and, as they melt and break apart in the morning sun, are pushed by light winds that gently nudge the rocks across
