Sailing stones Death Velley

[405509920]

Over the break I went on a road trip to death valley. While we were there we saw devils golf course which had "moving rocks". I was wondering if chemistry could explain this phenomena?

[Chem_Mod]

Hello! So this question can take us back to Earth Science in high school. The reason this occurs is due to erosional forces. These forces cause rocks from the surrounding mountains to tumble to the surface of the Racetrack. Once on the floor of the playa the rocks move across the level surface leaving trails as records of their movements!! The movement also occurred because on sunny days, melting caused the ice to break into large floating panels that, driven by light winds, pushed against the rocks to move them, leaving tracks on the desert floor!