Credit: Joe Orman
Explanation:
How did those big rocks end up on that strange terrain?
One of the more unusual places here on
Earth occurs inside
Death Valley,
California,
USA.
There a dried lakebed named
Racetrack Playa exists that is almost perfectly flat,
with the odd exception of some very large stones, one of which is
pictured above.
Now the flatness and texture of large
playa like Racetrack are fascinating but not
scientifically puzzling -- they are caused by mud
flowing, drying, and cracking after a heavy rain.
Only recently, however, has a
viable scientific hypothesis been given to explain
how 300-kilogram stones ended up near the middle
of such a large flat surface.
Unfortunately, as frequently happens in science,
a seemingly surreal problem ends up having a
relatively mundane solution.
It turns out that high winds after a rain can push even
heavy rocks across a momentarily slick lakebed.
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