Mysterious stone moves itself on Death Valley

Stones moving at Death Valley Racetrack Playa (southwestern California, USA) are a mysterious geological phenomenon.

Until now, no one had the opportunity to film or see rocks moving directly on Racetrack Lake. This further enhances their mysticism and it is believed that this phenomenon is caused by the hands of supernatural powers.

After more than 50 years of studying mysteriously shifting rocks on Racetrack terrariums, scientists have yet to find a solution to this mysterious phenomenon.

In 1955, George M. Stanley first hypothesized that moving rocks with the help of ribbons were formed after the surface of the lake was submerged. In winter and early spring, the lake surface has been flooded many times with a water level of 7cm and the temperature usually drops below 0 degrees.

In 1976, Robert Sharp and Dwight Carey excluded the tape hypothesis. By analyzing the path of the stone, they concluded that because the characteristics and geometric properties of these paths are related to each other, the bands cannot create them and move the stones.

Picture 1 of Mysterious stone moves itself on Death Valley

Racetrack Playa Lake taken from satellites.(Photo: Geology.com)

Sharp and Carey also conducted experiments using piles to encircle the slabs to verify the hypothesis of the ribbon. In one experiment, a rock moved to leave a noticeable path. Another time, two stones were placed inside the piles, the smaller stone moved out while the larger one was still inside the pile. Therefore, the two men claimed to be unable to get this result if the ice acted as a moving rock.

In 1995, John B. Reid, Jr. and other geologists from the University of Hampshire objected to the conclusion of Sharp and Carey. After comparing the data obtained after 7 visits to Death Valley from the late 1980s to 1994, they supported Stanley's first ribbon hypothesis.

From the detailed map of the stone's path, they found that most of them had similarities. Some were deflected near the end of the road and they explained the reason was that the ribbons would break into smaller pieces when melted and the stones inside could split.

However, the above is still only hypotheses and now scientists can not explain exactly this phenomenon of rock shifting.

Some pictures and videos of mysterious rocks on Racetrack Playa Lake:

Picture 2 of Mysterious stone moves itself on Death Valley Picture 3 of Mysterious stone moves itself on Death Valley