Unexplained Moving Rocks!

"Deep in the heart of the California desert lies one of the natural world's most puzzling mysteries: the moving rocks of Death Valley. These are not ordinary moving rocks that tumble down mountainsides in avalanches, are carried along riverbeds by flowing water, or are tossed aside by animals. These rocks, some as heavy as 700 pounds, are inexplicably transported across a virtually flat desert plain, leaving erratic trails in the hard mud behind them, some hundreds of yards long. They move by some mysterious force, and in the nine decades since we have known about them, no one has ever seen them move."
www.death-valley.us...

Heres some pictures I came across looking for the subject across the net. ( Could this be a case of a desert poltergeist !?! )




[Edited on 7/14/2003 by Beast4rmDaEast]

IMHO, I think it is a case of rain and wind. When it rains there, the surface is turned to a mud, providing a "less-friction" hypothesis. With this occurance and the relative high winds that do happen in that area, the rocks are thus moved.

regards
seekerof

hrmmm...but still...a 318 kg rock moving. Thats a bit hard with jsut rain and wind i would believe. If it rained and the surface was turned to mud....A rock of that weight would imo stay put and sink deeper into the ground.

Originally posted by DaRAGE
hrmmm...but still...a 318 kg rock moving. Thats a bit hard with jsut rain and wind i would believe. If it rained and the surface was turned to mud....A rock of that weight would imo stay put and sink deeper into the ground.

And your correct DaRage.....hence the tracks left by the rocks in the surface.

I thought the same thing till I remembered that when I was younger, I lived in Texas and when it got dry in the river beds, the surface appeared cracked and such as in the photos above. But when it rained and the hardened surface turned to mud, when you walked on it, at an angle, you would slip and often times fall, despite my body weight. Well I kind of applied that theory to the rocks and if the wind hits those rocks at a certain angle other than directly downforced, on a mud, slippery surface, they could quite possibly move, thus producing the tracks that they are leaving.

regards
seekerof

This is kind of like those wierd circles that appear in fields accross the world, how did they appear? anyway the only thing i can think of the same theory as Seekerof's

I believe it to likely be wind and rain as well.

The clay depicted in these photos are highly "fat" or expansive when they absorb water. This is evidenced by the fact that they crack extensively when dessicated.

Such "fat" clays normally produce a VERY slippery mud when they are hydrated. Also, in the photos, you can see that the trails the rocks leave are very contoured and up close the clay appares to be somewhat molded as the rock passes over it. If there was some kind of movement while the clay was dessicated, it would basically shatter, leaving far more ragged trails.

Yes, 700 pound rocks are a load to move... but have you ever been to warehouse store like Sams, and seen the stockers moving pallets of product on pallet jacks? I have personally moved 500 pound loads with such a jack with one hand... simply by eliminating the friction. In a rain storm, where the clay would be readily saturated and wind gusts up to say 40 mph, given the pretty flat terrain, I could see these things go sailing for pretty long distances.

Darage, I doubt that these rocks would sink at all. These clays have very high compressive strength, and becase they are highly hydrophillic (water loving), the top layer of clay will likely absorb most of the water and turn to mud, while the layer just an inch deep will remain bone dry, giving a very robust support to weight.

Hmmm, i'm not sure about any of this......

but if it was wind, wouldn't there have been quite a few tracks together, rather than just a single stone being moved at a time? The tracks on the photos seem to long and more-or-less straight to be that......

I've lived with 2 poltergeists so I think i'll go with that theory.......

DR....
Thank you for explaining it in the way I obviously couldn't. I tried.
Thanks again.

regards
seekerof

Well, dont know what else would cause additional tracks... I didnt see anything else in the photos to cause any other tracks.

Of course, that is one of the problems, we are only seeing one track per photo... need to see if they are all moving in the same general direction. This whole theory could be blown if it was found that they were moving in all different directions.

Well, what I'm saying is, if the wind was strong enough to blow that one big rock all that way, I would have thought that most of the other rocks around it of a similar or smaller size would be dragged along too, giving numerous tracks and rocks in the same place, more or less. But, I'm just guessing, I have no real knowledge on the subject like you lot......

I know what you are saying chebob..but honestly you really think something other than just normal nature is causing this..I mean seriously what would be the point?? Who really cares enough about these damn rocks to try to see a pattern or something "unexpected" to happen with them. I know there are some researchers who have spent alot of time and effort into studying these rocks and personally I dont understand it.

Well osobad, thats the trouble: I've got no idea. I don't know much, but I just feel that the rain/wind theory isn't right........just my opinion. Could be cheeky animals who are just messing with our heads........could be anything I suppose!

Originally posted by chebob
........could be anything I suppose!

exactly..I dont really believe the whole wind/rain thing either that much..but I really dont think anything sinister is goin on here!

I agree with the mud/wind theory but wind wouldnt have to push all the stones in the same direction.

Many factors could determine the destination of the stones including the chaos factor.
1.How rain water collects
-Streams, puddles, evenly or sporadically
-this determines consistency of mud water:dirt ratio
-Areas with looser mud could form trails that the rocks woud follow
2. Temperature of the rocks and the mud (chance of cohesion)
3. the shape of the rock
-this determines how the rock catches the wind and how it slides through the mud (is the bottom flat or pointy like the bottom of a boat.

Ex. three different shaped icebergs are floating in the sea. They are blown by the same directional wind. The different shapes cause the icebergs to catch the wind differently, pushing them in different directions. Also the shape of the areas of the iceberg that are submerged would affect the direction just like a steering rutter.

In the article at the link contained in the original post, in the "two theories" section, it discusses that one of the researchers has noticed multiple trails that run parallel, even when there is a zig-zag, they track each other.

Just thought I'd throw that in.

**Beast** Interesting topic!

[Edited on 14-7-2003 by Valhall]

I believe this happens during times of seismic activity. It is known that some clays can liquify when the proper vibration is applied. I believe this vibration also helps the rocks to slide on top of the clay like the little men in a toy hockey game.

as for me just let the scientist to chek on this kind of rock but not the police where this rock have no license to move around exactly

I believe this happens during times of seismic activity.

If that's the case, could this be a natural example of magnetics in action?

I have no clue why the rocks move. I would trust dragonrider on this. The only question i have is why is that the only place that rocks mysterysly move? If someone lives in that area or vist there frequently you might try using a metal detector. I dont know what that would do, but it would be fun to see if there is something metal there.

In the article at the link contained in the original post, in the "two theories" section, it discusses that one of the researchers has noticed multiple trails that run parallel, even when there is a zig-zag, they track each other. ,

Yes, but water does the same thing. Rain collects and runs off generally towards the same area or destination. These rocks could just be following precipitational run off trails.

I agree grinder, seismic activity is a variable didn't even think of. Also the grade and topography of the area would play into the equation.