Minox Contax Racetrack Playa - a photo on Flickriver

            Racetrack Playa in Death Valley National Park.  

For most of the year Racetrack Playa in Death Valley, California is a dry lake, a perfectly flat expanse of cracked white clay. There are a few scattered stones on the surface, from a few centimetres in diameter to half a metre. Some of the stones have trails hundreds of metres long showing that they have moved across the ground – but how?

Nobody has seen one in motion, but geologists have tracked the stones progress for years, often in March.

The most likely explanation involves the spring weather. Rain and melting snow from the surrounding hills leaves many of the rocks partly-submerged in enormous, shallow pools. As temperatures fall at night, ice can form a collar around the base of a rock. This creates enough buoyancy for strong winds to overcome friction with the lake bed. This is only possible because of the flatness of the Playa, which allows wind to gust at 90 mph close to the ground.

In any case, the movement probably on lasts less than a minute and may only occur every several years. This is perhaps why the sailing stones of Racetrack Playa have remained one of the world's more elusive weather phenomena.
-The Guardian

Sharan Miniature Contax I on expired Minox Minocolor 100 film.

Some rights reserved

Taken in: United States / California / Inyo (show map)

Taken on: May 20, 2013

Tags:

sharan

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miniature

submini

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7x11

minocolor

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Sets appears in: • Parks • Death Valley more » • Minox Contax I « less

Groups appears in: • Desert • California Desert more » • Blue Hue • Artistic Photography • I Shoot Film • !Catchy Colors • U.S. National Parks • Contax • No Post Production • Grain is Good • U.S. National Parks and Places • BLUE BLUE BLUE • No Photoshop Here • dream or reality? • low-fi • Size Matters: subminature photography • analog • Death Valley • d r e a m s c a p e s • Road Tripping • The Film Group • FILMISM • Retro & Vintage Photography • Landscape Beauty ! • picky imperfection • Tiny Wonders • Minox Sub-Miniature • West Coast (USA) • flickr (unofficial) • digital is the devil • Film Addicts « less

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