USA South West (Drafts only, work in Progress)
Thunderstrom clouds over the Racetrack in Death Valley
For a long time it was not clear, why the stones where leaving traces on Race Track. However, the mystery has been solved now. The explanation is linked to two surprising facts. Fact 1: hard to believe, but it can rain in Death Valley. When you walk on Race Track, the ground appears solid as rock. However, the ground is just very dry mud, which eroded over countless centuries from the surrounding mountains, when there was rain. This mud then was backed by the sun into a perfectly flat surface. Fact 2: also hard to believe, but temperatures can drop below the freezing point, especially in winter time and in the higher elevations. The Race Track is located in a “side valley”, somewhat higher than me main parts of Death Valley, so subject to freezing cold in winter times. And now let’s see how those two facts support the tracks being formed: when it rains in Race Track in winter, water can accumulate on the ground of Race Track and softening up the surface. In the night temperature can drop below freezing point, forming a layer of thin ice on the Race Track, and “trapping” the stones that are laying on Race Track. When the morning comes, the sun starts to melt the ice. The ice then cracks, forming sheets of ice gets, while still “trapping” the stones. If then the wind blows strong enough, the “trapped” stones function as a sail, moving over the soft ground by the wind and leaving the traces. As soon as the ice disappears and the sun bakes again the mud to a concrete-like surface, all the evidence to this mystery have vanished.
