Cidersomerset
31st August 2014, 19:32
How Rocks Move
uyHcs7B27Zk
Published on 27 Aug 2014
Scripps Oceanography paleooceanographer Richard Norris describes the phenomenon of
sliding rocks in Death Valley.
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In the vid below you can see what looks like to parallel track marks behind it..
Mysterious moving Rock appears near Mars Rover Opportunity - Jan 17, 2014
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yOW1V0cefA8/Uti3gWT-KrI/AAAAAAAAHlk/HsXSTGwNVGA/s1600/moving+rocj+mars+2014.jpg
http://ufosightingshotspot.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/mysterious-moving-rock-appears-near.html
6kvOxeeNjXo
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http://static.bbci.co.uk/frameworks/barlesque/2.66.0/desktop/3.5/img/blq-blocks_grey_alpha.png
29 August 2014 Last updated at 16:26
United States: 'Sailing rocks' mystery finally solvedNews from Elsewhere...
By News from Elsewhere...
...media reports from around the world, found by BBC Monitoring
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/77264000/jpg/_77264811_179072265.jpg
Scientists have finally solved the mystery of how rocks can move across the flat ground
of a dry lake bed in Death Valley, California.
Visitors have long been puzzled by the sight of boulder tracks criss-crossing a dusty
bowl known as the Racetrack Playa in Death Valley National Park. But two researchers
now say the rocks - which can sometimes be heavy and large - are propelled along by
thin, clear sheets of ice on breezy, sunny days. They call it "ice shove". "I'm amazed by
the irony of it all," paleobiologist James Norris tells the LA Times. "In a place where
rainfall averages two inches a year, rocks are being shoved around by mechanisms
typically seen in arctic climes."
The findings are based on a lucky accident by James Norris and his cousin Richard
Norris - while they were studying the sliding rock phenomenon. They actually witnessed
the boulders moving in December when they went to check their time-lapse cameras in
the valley. "There was a pop-pop-crackle all over the place in front of us and I said to
my cousin, 'This is it'," Richard Norris says in the science journal Nature. They
watched some 60 rocks sail slowly by, leaving the well-known snaking trails in the
ground. "A baby can get going a lot faster than your average rock," Norris notes.
The rocks also don't slide around very often - scientists estimate only a few
minutes out of a million - which is why the event has not been noticed before.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-28989520
uyHcs7B27Zk
Published on 27 Aug 2014
Scripps Oceanography paleooceanographer Richard Norris describes the phenomenon of
sliding rocks in Death Valley.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the vid below you can see what looks like to parallel track marks behind it..
Mysterious moving Rock appears near Mars Rover Opportunity - Jan 17, 2014
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yOW1V0cefA8/Uti3gWT-KrI/AAAAAAAAHlk/HsXSTGwNVGA/s1600/moving+rocj+mars+2014.jpg
http://ufosightingshotspot.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/mysterious-moving-rock-appears-near.html
6kvOxeeNjXo
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://static.bbci.co.uk/frameworks/barlesque/2.66.0/desktop/3.5/img/blq-blocks_grey_alpha.png
29 August 2014 Last updated at 16:26
United States: 'Sailing rocks' mystery finally solvedNews from Elsewhere...
By News from Elsewhere...
...media reports from around the world, found by BBC Monitoring
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/77264000/jpg/_77264811_179072265.jpg
Scientists have finally solved the mystery of how rocks can move across the flat ground
of a dry lake bed in Death Valley, California.
Visitors have long been puzzled by the sight of boulder tracks criss-crossing a dusty
bowl known as the Racetrack Playa in Death Valley National Park. But two researchers
now say the rocks - which can sometimes be heavy and large - are propelled along by
thin, clear sheets of ice on breezy, sunny days. They call it "ice shove". "I'm amazed by
the irony of it all," paleobiologist James Norris tells the LA Times. "In a place where
rainfall averages two inches a year, rocks are being shoved around by mechanisms
typically seen in arctic climes."
The findings are based on a lucky accident by James Norris and his cousin Richard
Norris - while they were studying the sliding rock phenomenon. They actually witnessed
the boulders moving in December when they went to check their time-lapse cameras in
the valley. "There was a pop-pop-crackle all over the place in front of us and I said to
my cousin, 'This is it'," Richard Norris says in the science journal Nature. They
watched some 60 rocks sail slowly by, leaving the well-known snaking trails in the
ground. "A baby can get going a lot faster than your average rock," Norris notes.
The rocks also don't slide around very often - scientists estimate only a few
minutes out of a million - which is why the event has not been noticed before.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-28989520