Fig. 1
Sailing stones on Racetrack Playa, Death Valley
Photo: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center from Greenbelt, MD, USA · Public domain
Landform
A remote playa where rocks leave tracks. The Grandstand is the dark outcrop in the middle.
Field note
Racetrack Playa lies in Death Valley National Park, which the National Park Service administers. Moving rocks leave tracks across the mud; the Grandstand is the quartz monzonite island in the flat. Racetrack Road is a rough high-clearance track, and many drivers want four-wheel drive. The playa is closed to driving, and it is impassable when wet. The Death Valley plate is the whole basin; this plate is the playa.
