Death Valley's puzzling 'sailing stones' mystery solved

New research points to bacterial growth causing the rock movement.

Scientists initially thought that the large stones' movements in Death Valley, California without any human intervention are due to the icy, slippery surface due to the winter season. However, they found a colony of bacteria living within the area bound by the mystery of these sailing stones. These bacteria secretes some slippery substance that might be the answer to this long time science puzzle.

MUNTINLUPA, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) - The rocks weigh as much as 320 kg and were observed to move without any human, or animal, intervention, which has puzzled scientists for more than a century.

According to some experts' hypothesis, the rocks are moving because of the ice sheets formed around them during the winter season, making the ground slippery causing the rocks to move as the wind blows.

However, Spanish geologists have found something different from the prevailing hypothesis.

In a research completed by a team of geologists from the Complutense University in Madrid (UCM), the mysterious phenomenon is not a sole event but is also observed at the dry bottom of the Altillo Chica lagoon in Lillo (Toledo, Spain).

"Our hypothesis is that they move during the winter, when storms are produced and accompanied by strong winds. The wind is capable of creating water currents of up to two meters per second, which would be the real cause of the sliding stones," said co-author MarĂ­a Esther Sanz as cited in the report. But they also found an ally of microorganisms that aid the heavy rocks on their "sailing."

According to the report, the micro community is composed cyanobacteria, single-celled algae and other microorganisms that secrete slippery substances. They could be found living on the bottom of the lagoon and produce muddy sediments, which have a lot of gas bubbles, creating a skating-rink-like surface for the rocks to slide on.

They ruled out the ice sheet hypothesis because of the rare occurrence of freezing in the Altillo Chica lagoon.

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