oops lost a 't'
It's a figure of 4 Trap- sorry can't type!
Dead fall- a stone is held up by one or more sticks- animal dislodges stick/s and gets whacked on the head etc by the stone usually meeting its maker!
Also known as the Paiute Trap
No artifacts? darn!

Hi Ursula,

I mixed it up with a very similar one near DWM.

I think what you see on the back is some other unrelated animal figure, either over or under, but it is not very clear.

What a fascinating thread. Thank you for posting.

Andy

Sadly this is like most of the threads we used to have here, before the spring :stormy:...

Egypt - Cleft Hill Airstrip Western Desert
 

Tarek showed us another landing ground in the Western Desert not far from Garth Hill

Cleft Hill on Google
http://up.picr.de/19719641tz.jpg

I was very surprised about the number of large single tracks, asking myself from
what kind of vehicle they could be.
Any idea?


Ursula

Airport Cleft Hill Western Desert
 

to compare our small Toyota tracks from left to right
http://up.picr.de/19710240qp.jpg

single large tracks
http://up.picr.de/19710241gt.jpg

Ursula, just guess. Maybe caravan tracks?

Thomas

Cleft Hill Garth Hill airport Western Desert
 

Hi Thomas –
thats exactly what I was thinking too before I saw the straight dynamic
semicircular tracks on Google http://up.picr.de/19719641tz.jpg

usually camel tracks look more zigzaged – snaked - meandrered like
http://up.picr.de/19745494gp.jpg
http://up.picr.de/19745495jm.jpg
http://up.picr.de/19745496ss.jpg

or maybe from some speedy drunken camels full of aviation benzine beer ???

Really bizarre, no idea.

We already had a lengthy discussion with Tarek on another forum re camel tracks, petrol and supplies for these emergency fields were flown in, there is zero evidence to suggest that camels would have been used for any logistics support.

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.

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.

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.

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.

:confused:

Cleft Hill LRDG airstrip Egypt Western Desert
 

Looking at my old pics…

https://up.picr.de/36369138ja.jpg

Did anyone come up with a logical explanation of the origin of the elliptical tracks?