ఆక్కడ రాళ్లు వాటతంటవే కదులుతాయి ll Mystery Behind Death Valley’s sliding stones to move

ఆక్కడ రాళ్లు వాటతంటవే కదులుతాయి ll Mystery Behind Death Valley’s sliding stones to move

Although their tracks across Racetrack Playa – a dry lake bed in Death Valley – have been observed and studied since the early 1900s, no one had ever seen the stones in motion, until recently.

In August 2014, a group of (very patient) researchers aided by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, NASA and others announced they had solved the mystery. Richard D. Norris and his cousin James M. Norris said the motion comes from very thin windowpane ice that sometimes covers the dry lake bed. When the ice begins to melt in late morning sun, it may break up under light winds. Floating ice panels may then push the rocks, causing them to move and leave tracks in the desert floor. The journal PLOS ONE published their study.

The two cousins launched their investigation of sailing stones in 2011. That’s when they founded what they called the Slithering Stones Research Initiative. They established a weather station near Racetrack Playa and added 15 of their own stones to the playa. The added stones had GPS tracking units attached.Then, they watched. On December 4 and December 20, 2013, their set-up – which used time-lapse photography – caught on camera rocks that were sliding across the playa at up to 15 feet (3-5 meters) per minute. They saw many other instances of sailing stones as well, becoming the first people in the world to see the stones in motion.We first heard of Death Valley’s sliding stones from a Facebook friend, Chris Tinker. He captured the image above and wrote of the stones on our website. He spoke of the idea that the rocks were blown by the strong winter winds, which can reach 90 mph on the Death Valley desert floor. In fact, that’s not what happens, as James Norris and Richard Norris saw.

According to Wikipedia, these sailing stones are slabs of dolomite and syenite ranging from a few hundred grams to hundreds of kilograms.

Racetrack Playa stones only move once every two or three years and most tracks last for three or four years. Stones with rough bottoms leave straight striated tracks while those with smooth bottoms wander.

Nice to know what causes them to move! If you have time, check out the video below, which features the Norris brothers telling their story.Bottom line: Watch the video in this post, and become one of the people on Earth who have seen the famous sliding stones of Death Valley’s Racetrack Playa in motion. The rock movement occurs when very thin windowpane ice covering the dry lake bed begins to melt in late morning sun. The ice breaks up under light winds, and floating ice panels push the rocks, causing them to move and leave tracks in the desert floor.

The post ఆక్కడ రాళ్లు వాటతంటవే కదులుతాయి ll Mystery Behind Death Valley’s sliding stones to move appeared first on Telugu News.

from WordPress http://ift.tt/2hsI4Pu
via IFTTT