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Photo by Igor Djokovic, camping above San Juan river, Arizona USA

I haven't been everywhere...
but it's on my list!


Photo by Igor Djokovic,
camping above San Juan river,
Arizona USA



Trans Sahara Routes.

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  #1  
Old 9 Oct 2014
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Could the single tracks be the nose or tail wheel of an aircraft? In a tight turn that single wheel might dig in more than the others.
Last edited by Richard Washington; 11 Oct 2014 at 13:30.
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Old 9 Oct 2014
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Definitely not tailwheel (all aircraft in use at the time were tail-draggers), track much too wide. The only thing I can possibly think of is perhaps a shallow ditch excavated by prop-wash once the aircraft were taxiing, but the edges appear too abrupt for that, and there are stones on the ground which are much too heavy to de dislodged by prop-wash.
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Old 11 Oct 2014
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Quote:
Originally Posted by andrasz View Post
Definitely not tailwheel (all aircraft in use at the time were tail-draggers), track much too wide.
A complication with identifying old tracks is that their form will change over decades. Once a track is introduced it changes the near-surface friction velocity by altering the roughness and that, in turn, changes the turbulence profile and deflation capability near the tracks. As a result the same background wind can become more erosive in the vicinity of the newly introduced track compared with the surronds and, as a result, fine sediment is more easily transported from the track and track edges. Track form therefore changes - possibly widening, possibly also creating deposition downwind of the tracks in the same way that nebkha dunes form near small vegetation features. Simply put, I doubt the tracks originally looked like they do now.
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Old 12 Oct 2014
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Agreed, but on the photos larger stones are clearly pushed aside forming a low rim along the track edges (2nd photo, track at upper right). Cannot see any way wind can do that.

Also for aircraft of the times, most weight was on main wheels not on tail wheel, so plane tracks should be double or triple (tail wheel would have been just a few inches wide). The stones piled to the side argue against the prop-wash theory too.

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Old 29 Jul 2019
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Smile Cleft Hill LRDG airstrip Egypt Western Desert
Looking at my old pics…

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Old 29 Jul 2019
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Did anyone come up with a logical explanation of the origin of the elliptical tracks?
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Old 2 Aug 2019
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Cleft Hill LRDG airstrip Egypt Western Desert
could this picture help ?



or the sat map ?



the tracks are really mysterious !



Last edited by ursula; 7 Aug 2019 at 13:02.
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Old 25 Mar 2020
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Originally Posted by Richard Washington View Post
Could the single tracks be the nose or tail wheel of an aircraft? In a tight turn that single wheel might dig in more than the others.
Close but no cigar....
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Old 26 Mar 2020
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Close but no cigar....
Certainly worth an honourable mention...
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