WHY DOES THIS ROCK MOVE?
AND WHY DOES IT HAVE A GIRLS NAME?
From todays lesson you should know that this rock is located in Racetrack Playa in Death Valley National Park in Califonia. A playa a dry lake bed.
Click here for a google earth placemark 
There is something special about this area though. From the picture above you can see that there are trails behind the rock and evidence that this rock has moved. But how can it move, no one has seen them move and some of the rocks are very heavy. Your task is to try to solve the mystery of Race Track Playa
Web Sites to help you with your quest
A very good site to give you some more background lots of video’s and explanations from Dr Paula Messina
http://geology.com/articles/racetrack-playa-sliding-rocks.shtml - this has lots of different theories
US Geological Survey has tracked them using GPS – here is their report a piece of scientific research using GPS to try to track the movements.
USGS Death Valley Geology Field trip
Could this video below be true or just a red herring? What do you think?
Your task is to work in fours to come up with your own theory as to why the rocks at Race Track Playa in Death Valley mysteriously move. You can use movie maker or power point to come up with your own theory that must be presented to the rest of the class.
Hi,
This is a great website although i am continually frustrated by the amount of info we as geographers have to process… i love electronic resources although my laptop struggles to cope and the school server complains too!
Maybe a website is what i need.. how did you go about creating yours?
All the best and let me know if there is anything you are struggling to find… i may have something on it!
Tim TC Head of Geog JBS Witham
We will miss you, Ms Richards! Hope you’ll visit us soon!