How Did These Rocks Move?

Magic or could there be some science behind it?

Last week at the Young Writers’ Club(Jr.) we talked about the mystery of moving rocks!

For years, people have been puzzled by mysterious movements of rocks along the dry terrain of the Death Valley, California. The movement is extremely slow and is even noticeable only when the position of the rocks change from time to time, followed by a noticeable trail behind them. Looks like they have been dragged but no one lives there. Why would anyone drag a rock for a long way and leave it?

Initial thoughts and theories

• Could it have slid down the mountain?
• But it looks pretty far from the mountain. May be it rolled?
• A rock rolling and creating a perfect trail like that?
• Unlikely theory but could early man have tried moving it?
• That’s a lot of time! Forces of nature would have changed the trail.
• How did the rock form in the first place? Refer Gitty’s Story: Earth
• The ground looks weird
• Lots of hexagonal shapes
• Drought- dry climate
• Maybe mountains in Afghanistan. The Hindu Kush mountains border them. Other deserts of the world don’t have mountains such as this one.
• Could someone have dragged the rock?
• The indentation is too deep suggesting that no one dragged it.

Then how did the rock move?

When all theories failed to explain, Google came to the rescue. Titbits of information emerged.

• something to do with a thin sheet of ice
• but this looks like a desert. How would ice appear here?
• Winter probably?

But it wasn’t easy to find a complete explanation quickly. The tweens refused to take the theory of magic as a possibility and insisted that there must be a scientific explanation. They were all years as the complete story was revealed.

Mystery finally solved using Science

The moving rocks remained a mystery for a long time awarding the place names such as “sailing rocks” and “Devil’s golf course” to describe the way the rocks appeared to have been thrown around here and there.

Explanation:

This place is the Death Valley in California. Extremely dry climate with little rain. But when it rains, rain water tends to stagnate here. Closer to the winter months, water tends to freeze perhaps during the night when it gets cold. However the ice tends to melt slowly when the temperatures rise. The ice becomes slippery and coupled with winds that blow, the rocks tend to move as friction on the ground comes down. Ice tends to be slippery. The movement however is extremely slow. The change in position is often noticed only after a couple of years have passed.

How did they discover this?

Read more here.

There is a perfectly sensible explanation for even mysterious events. One just needs to have the right mindset and tools to solve the mystery!

Previously published on The Tween Tribune- Magazine featuring interesting writing from the tween members of the Young Writers' Club, Talking Circles.