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Researchers have finally solved the mystery of sailing stones, according to a new study. 

For long, huge stones have been moving across the Racetrack Playa of Death Valley National Park, leaving behind engraved trails in the muddy surface behind. There was no plausible explanation of the phenomenon, still lots of speculations floated around. 

Last year, researchers sought to know the underlying reason behind these moving stones and they placed stones equipped with GPS devices on the same stretch of land and then waited and watched. 

"We recorded the first direct scientific observation of rock movements using GPS-instrumented rocks and photography, in conjunction with a weather station and time-lapse cameras," the authors wrote in a study.

Last year on Dec. 2o, they had witnessed 60 rocks move across the land. 

Researchers discovered that the very thin ice that trapped the rocks during winter melted in the midday sun, and then the ice and water and rocks were all blown by wind, making it seem as if the stones moved by themselves. 

"In contrast with previous hypotheses of powerful winds or thick ice floating rocks off the playa surface, the process of rock movement that we have observed occurs when the thin, three to six [millimeter], "windowpane" ice sheet covering the playa pool begins to melt in late morning sun and breaks up under light winds of (about four to five meters per second)," they wrote.

The study has been published in the journal PLOS One.