Racetrack II

a cósh to jest? meteor znaczący swoją drogę lądowania? ;-)

Nikt za bardzo nie wie jak sie przesuwaja te kamyczki.

The Racetrack is a unique attraction of Death Valley National Park that not many park visitors get to see. It's a dry lakebed in a very remote and beautiful area. On the north end of the lakebed is a rock formation known as the grandstands. Rocks from the grandstands and other nearby formations break off and fall onto the lake. There, they perform feats that make this remote playa world-famous.

They move! But after all these years, a hundred or more since this phenomenon was brought to the attention of naturalists studying Death Valley, no one has ever seen them move. These rocks aren't boulders; most are perhaps a foot or so tall, but can still weigh a lot and are not easy to lift.

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Comments

@dave says:

Awesome!
Posted 51 months ago. ( permalink )

codeburner says:

Great shot, is that up there by Ubehebe (probably spelled wrong) crater?
Posted 51 months ago. ( permalink )

melastmohican says:

Do you mean this one?
Ubehebe Crater
Posted 51 months ago. ( permalink )

Professional Recreationalist says:

great image, you really caught the motion of the rock

loved the background info too
Posted 51 months ago. ( permalink )

Special P [deleted] says:

that's weird! i'm assuming when you walk on the lakebed it makes tracks yeah? so it's not like people are making this happen?

v. cool!
Posted 50 months ago. ( permalink )

melastmohican says:

@SpecialP: It's not that easy to lift some of them so it would be extremely difficult to push them and make such tracks ;-) I did not search internet for possible hypotesis :-)
Posted 50 months ago. ( permalink )

a click in the dark says:

it's difficult to tell perspective, is this rock a foot high?

p.s. great photo!
Posted 50 months ago. ( permalink )

JBW Music says:

WOW.
Posted 49 months ago. ( permalink )

luckd says:

great texture, DOF, comp, everything!
Posted 43 months ago. ( permalink )

nickd3000 says:

Fantastic picture, these have always fascinated me.
Posted 40 months ago. ( permalink )

raysto says:

likewise, i've seen these before - there must be some simple explanation. great picture of it and this looks like a great place to go hiking
Posted 40 months ago. ( permalink )

melastmohican says:

Yes, Death Valley is great but too hot in summer. Now is the best time to go there...
Posted 40 months ago. ( permalink )

hassimir says:

I saw an article once that demonstrates how wind pushes them inch by inch over the years. Truly amazing stuff.

Very nice shot indeed.
Posted 37 months ago. ( permalink )

Professional Recreationalist says:

...wind pushes? I'd expect debris to catch against the windward side and rest on it's leeward side. I vote human intervention...
Posted 37 months ago. ( permalink )

Special P [deleted] says:

the theory is (available via Google search of course) water collects, freezes and shifts when the winds come. since the rocks get frozen in the water and the ground is semi-soft from the previous saturation, as the ice moves the rocks scrape the dirt and voila! easy, natural, and an elegant display if you ask me.

and i love how these lakebeds are called "playa"s

don't be a playa hater...
Posted 37 months ago. ( permalink )

Professional Recreationalist says:

...i was wondering water/ice, but I'm not familiar with the local weather. Thanx, makes sense.

Isn't nature wonderful...?
Posted 37 months ago. ( permalink )

melastmohican says:

I was also having a feeling that it could only happen in wet season when soil gets soft and winds are very, very strong there...
Posted 37 months ago. ( permalink )

Forkie says:

I've read about this phenomonon in Death Valley. Fascinating! Great picture!
Posted 36 months ago. ( permalink )

crystal.village says:

nigdy o tym nie słyszałam - fajne!
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

Brandt Animals says:

Umm.. we´re talking Death Valley here. The hottest place in America! You really think there´s going to be ice here? The theory actually says that the clay gets very slippery when wet and then the high winds (sometimes in excess of 70mph) push the rocks around.http://www.desertusa.com/mag99/july/st ories/race1.html
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

albernathy0 says:

great set!
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

Stefan☺Sauzuk says:

May be that place gets wet when it rains a lot. Perhaps the material of the ground suffers a kind of liquification when covered with water and gets slippery so that when the wind blows, it pushes the rocks. But we´re talking about a lot of rain. After that, when the sun shines it heats up the water, this becames steam and finally desappears with the result that the long mark the rock carved on the soil gets solid together with the surrounding ground.
The quetion is:
Does this place receive much rain?
As far as I´m concerned, death valley is one of the dryest decerts on the earth together with the Desierto de Atacama in Northern Chile.
Posted 25 months ago. ( permalink )

FlickAwardR says:

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Posted 23 months ago. ( permalink )

Nicolas de Fontenay says:

It's the death valley and it has also recorded very cold temperatures.

The supposition is that water would freeze and ice sheets would move carrying the rocks along.

When mud gets soft, a ton heavy rock doesn't move on a flat land. It sinks in. It has been proved that impossible wind gusts would be required to move these rocks.

So far, there's no undisputed explanation. Mud and wind has been proven impossible and ice sheets is being disputed.

No other explanations are given.
Posted 23 months ago. ( permalink )

David Michel says:

really interessant shot. Thany you to make us discovery this place.
Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

Lens Eyes says:

Even better!
Posted 21 months ago. ( permalink )

Marco Donatiello says:

Congratulations, Your Photo deserves a FlickAward
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Be sure your photo is tagged under "FlickAwardR"
You should join to our Photography Community too,
(professional & amateur photographers)
to meet and make photographer friends & win the Photo Contest.
Posted 2 weeks ago. ( permalink )

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Taken in Stove Pipe Wells, California (map)
Taken on October 11, 2005
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Racetrack II

Comments

@dave says:

codeburner says:

melastmohican says:

Professional Recreationalist says:

Special P [deleted] says:

melastmohican says:

a click in the dark says:

JBW Music says:

luckd says:

nickd3000 says:

raysto says:

melastmohican says:

hassimir says:

Professional Recreationalist says:

Special P [deleted] says:

Professional Recreationalist says:

melastmohican says:

Forkie says:

crystal.village says:

Brandt Animals says:

albernathy0 says:

Stefan☺Sauzuk says:

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David Michel says:

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