sailing stones of death valley - 31 photos

Photos of the mysterious "Sailing Stones" on the Racetrack dry lake in Death Valley (California)

The "Sailing Stones" are rocks that move in long tracks along the smooth and perfectly flat surface of a dry lake, without human or animal intervention.

The best time to take photos of the sailing rocks and their tracks is just before sunset, or just after sunrise, when the light is grazing.

Those rocks move several hundreds feet every couple of years, during winter, but no-one has ever observed them moving. It is likely that the weather is extremely cold, wet and windy when the stones move, and by this type of extreme weather, no-one really wants to be there!

For a long time, the way those rocks moved was not well understood, but now the mystery is solved.

The rocks are most likely propelled by strong winds while entrapped in floating ice sheets (or icebergs), after winter rains flooded the dry lake and made the mud soft and slippery.

The natural process, as currently understood, involves:

1) heavy rain flooding the lake with a significant layer of water.

2) rain is followed immediately by below freezing temperature causing the water on the lake to freeze, entrapping the rocks in ice sheets.

3) more rain before the ice sheets melt, causing these ice sheets to float, The rocks are partially lifted by the icebergs that entrap them, reducing their apparent weight on the muddy bottom.

4) strong winds breaking the floating ice sheets and pushing them around, causing the entrapped rocks to move and leave tracks on the muddy bottom.

Because this combination of weather events is complex, it does not happen every winter.

And the larger the rocks are, the less often they move, because they can only move when there is more rain and more ice, which happens less often, So larger rocks move more rarely than smaller rocks.

For more information about the Racetrack sailing stones, read:

- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailing_stones

- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racetrack_Playa .

- www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/how-do-death-valleys-sailin...

Related series:

- Grotto Canyon (Death Valley)

- Death Valley

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Sailing Stone Closeup - Death Valley Racetrack
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Sailing Stone Closeup - Death Valley Racetrack
sailing rock on the racetrack with sun backlight - death valley, backlight, cracked mud, death valley, dry lake, dry mud, landscape, mountains, racetrack playa, rock, sailing stones, sliding rocks, sun
Sailing Rock on the Racetrack with Sun Backlight - Death Valley
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Sailing Rock on the Racetrack with Sun Backlight - Death Valley
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Sailing Stone on the Racetrack - Death Valley
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Sailing Stone on the Racetrack - Death Valley
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Sailing Stone on the Racetrack - Death Valley
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Sailing Stone on the Racetrack - Death Valley
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Sailing Stones on the Racetrack (Death Valley)
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Sailing Stones on the Racetrack (Death Valley)
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Sailing Stone Tracks - Death Valley Racetrack
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Sailing Stone Tracks - Death Valley Racetrack
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Racetrack - Sailing Stones - Death Valley
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Racetrack - Sailing Stones - Death Valley
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Sailing Stone Curvy Path on the Racetrack - Death Valley
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Sailing Stone Curvy Path on the Racetrack - Death Valley
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Sailing Stone Curved Track on the Racetrack - Death Valley
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Sailing Stone Curved Track on the Racetrack - Death Valley
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Sailing Stone and Its Track on the Racetrack - Death Valley
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Sailing Stone and Its Track on the Racetrack - Death Valley
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Sailing Stones on the Racetrack - Death Valley
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Sailing Stones on the Racetrack - Death Valley
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Two Sailing Stones with Parallel Paths - Racetrack - Death Valley
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Two Sailing Stones with Parallel Paths - Racetrack - Death Valley
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Sailing Stone on the Racetrack - Death Valley
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Sailing Stone on the Racetrack - Death Valley
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Several Sailing Stones on the Racetrack - Death Valley
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Several Sailing Stones on the Racetrack - Death Valley
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Two Sailing Stones Os a Collision Course - Racetrack - Death Valley
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Two Sailing Stones Os a Collision Course - Racetrack - Death Valley
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Detail of Sailing Stone and Its Track on the Racetrack - Death Valley
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Detail of Sailing Stone and Its Track on the Racetrack - Death Valley
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Sailing Stones with Crisscrossing Tracks - Racetrack - Death Valley
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Sailing Stones with Crisscrossing Tracks - Racetrack - Death Valley
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Sailing Rocks on the Racetrack - Death Valley
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Sailing Rocks on the Racetrack - Death Valley
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Several Sailing Stones and Their Tracks - Racetrack (Death Valley)
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Several Sailing Stones and Their Tracks - Racetrack (Death Valley)
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Sailing Stones on the Racetrack - Death Valley
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Sailing Stones on the Racetrack - Death Valley
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Sailing Stones Travelling Together on the Racetrack - Death Valley
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Sailing Stones Travelling Together on the Racetrack - Death Valley
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Sliding Rocks on the Racetrack (Death Valley)
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Sliding Rocks on the Racetrack (Death Valley)
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Two Sailing Stones on the Racetrack Playa - Death Valley
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Two Sailing Stones on the Racetrack Playa - Death Valley
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Sailing Stones Moving in opposite Directions - Racetrack - Death Valley
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Sailing Stones Moving in opposite Directions - Racetrack - Death Valley
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Sailing Stone on the Racetrack - Death Valley
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Sailing Stone on the Racetrack - Death Valley
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Alex Pretending She Was Hit by a Sailing Stone on the Racetrack - Death Valley
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Alex Pretending She Was Hit by a Sailing Stone on the Racetrack - Death Valley
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My Friend Pretending She Was Hit by a Moving Sailing Stone on the Racetrack - Death Valley
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My Friend Pretending She Was Hit by a Moving Sailing Stone on the Racetrack - Death Valley
alexandra on the racetrack - death valley, cracked mud, death valley, dry lake, dry mud, mountains, racetrack playa, woman
Alexandra on the Racetrack - Death Valley
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Alexandra on the Racetrack - Death Valley
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Photographer with Chamber Camera Shooting a Sailing Stone on the Racetrack - Death Valley
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Photographer with Chamber Camera Shooting a Sailing Stone on the Racetrack - Death Valley
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Chamber Camera on Tripod in Front of a Sailing Stone on the Racetrack - Death Valley
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Chamber Camera on Tripod in Front of a Sailing Stone on the Racetrack - Death Valley
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Photographing a Sailing Stone on the Racetrack - Death Valley
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Photographing a Sailing Stone on the Racetrack - Death Valley