Among the whole lifeless space of Death Valley, boulders are scattered, they are of various sizes. Everything would be fine, but these stones tend to move, for no apparent reason.
The first settlers to settle the frontier in 1849 were looking for the shortest route to the gold mines of California. It was then that the foot of a white man first set foot on these desert lands. During the passage through the valley, many people died and went missing. All this remained in memory in geographical names - Death Valley, Dead Man's Ridge, Funeral Mountains.
While some stones are actively moving, others remain motionless.
In 1880, borax deposits were discovered here and a mine was built for its extraction and processing. The mine worked for thirty years, leaving in the memory of the local population the memories of the increased mortality of people and animals involved in the work.
Moving stones are one of the last mysteries of the Valley. Boulders leave traces up to several kilometers long. To this day, the reasons for the movement of stones remain unclear to the end.
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Stones often change their trajectory, sometimes quite radically.
A number of explanations for this natural phenomenon have been proposed. In December 2013, scientists discovered that the bottom of one of the lakes in Death Valley was covered with a layer of water about eight centimeters high, after which some of the stones changed their position. Some of them moved a few millimeters, while others moved a few centimeters at once.
It was not possible to photograph or record the movement of the stones.
The movement of stones took place after severe frosts and thaws. Under the influence of the wind, stones moved along the viscous surface of the lake. However, this explanation did not suit everyone. Geologist George Stanley of the University of Michigan denied the assumption. Among the arguments against is the fact that the stones are too heavy for the wind to move them. The simplest experiment confirmed the geologist's assumption.
The next most probable theory is seismic activity in the area of Lake Reystrek-Playa, supposedly the factor of softening the soil and weak tremors contribute to the movement of stones. But this theory also proved to be inconsistent - after ten years of observations, even a small underground activity in the Death Valley area was not found.
Some of the boulders weigh up to 500 kilograms.
Researchers continue to figure out mysterious activity at the bottom of a dried-up lake in Death Valley. Various theories have been put forward, including electromagnetic activity, alien interference and common hoax. Nevertheless, there are more questions than answers. Among the most difficult - why not all stones move, but only some? Why do boulders move in different directions when the same force is acting on them? The riddle remains unsolved and has yet to be solved.