Erosion footage
October 9, 2011 5:29 PM Subscribe
The two weeks later video is pretty neat for contrast.
posted by cjorgensen at 5:34 PM on October 9, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by cjorgensen at 5:34 PM on October 9, 2011 [2 favorites]
Well THAT'll be on every 11:00 newscast in America within the next 48 hours.
posted by briank at 5:39 PM on October 9, 2011
posted by briank at 5:39 PM on October 9, 2011
Crumbled Rock Face is easily my second-favourite Ben & Jerry's after Cherry Surprise Buttsex.
posted by tumid dahlia at 5:49 PM on October 9, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by tumid dahlia at 5:49 PM on October 9, 2011 [3 favorites]
That kind of thing happens around here every time we have an above-average rainy season. Here's the last occurrence, with witnesses but no video. And that location (or what's left of it) was the finish line for a half-marathon today that a reported 17,000 people participated in, but no further collapsing under all the running feet, fortunately. (But if it had, you know somebody would've gotten video!)
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:57 PM on October 9, 2011
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:57 PM on October 9, 2011
This is why you'd never get me out on Preikestolen in Norway.
posted by crunchland at 5:59 PM on October 9, 2011 [12 favorites]
posted by crunchland at 5:59 PM on October 9, 2011 [12 favorites]
Can we find a way to blame global warming for this?
posted by jwhite1979 at 5:59 PM on October 9, 2011
posted by jwhite1979 at 5:59 PM on October 9, 2011
Can we find a way to blame global warming for this?
HAARP, man, HAARP.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:03 PM on October 9, 2011
HAARP, man, HAARP.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:03 PM on October 9, 2011
Taking a cue from villanelles at dawn...
Crumbled rock face # 2.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:12 PM on October 9, 2011 [1 favorite]
Crumbled rock face # 2.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:12 PM on October 9, 2011 [1 favorite]
F - - SUB-PAR CONSTRUCTION. POOR COMMUNICATION. WILL NOT DO BUSINESS AGAIN.
posted by punkfloyd at 6:24 PM on October 9, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by punkfloyd at 6:24 PM on October 9, 2011 [1 favorite]
Geology In Action is awesome; made doubly awesome, considering the fact that barely a week ago I was in some analogous places pondering exactly that sort of potential occurrence.
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:29 PM on October 9, 2011
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:29 PM on October 9, 2011
Best of the Web, Anything. Thanks!
posted by five fresh fish at 6:31 PM on October 9, 2011
posted by five fresh fish at 6:31 PM on October 9, 2011
The Frank Slide.. No disrespect to the dead but seriously… don't build your village under a mountain the natives call "The Mountain That Moves", dumbasses!
posted by five fresh fish at 6:35 PM on October 9, 2011
posted by five fresh fish at 6:35 PM on October 9, 2011
Despite attempts to try and save it, New Hampshire lost the Old Man of the Mountain back in 2003. (previously.)
posted by crunchland at 6:38 PM on October 9, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by crunchland at 6:38 PM on October 9, 2011 [3 favorites]
Rhode Island drops into the ocean
No place to call home anymore
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 6:46 PM on October 9, 2011 [2 favorites]
No place to call home anymore
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 6:46 PM on October 9, 2011 [2 favorites]
There's one bonus reason why for me this video is quite interesting. I have occasionally wondered which mechanisms are behind the formation of sand and to what degree. I've skimmed google on the subject and the usual explanation is that sand forms gradually by small rocks being chipped off bigger rocks by force of wind and water.
I've suspected that a large portion would come instead from events like this, and that in events like this a large portion of the rock disintegrates into fine particles instead of just turning into smaller rocks of nevertheless appreciable size.
There's quite a puff of dust there so I think I'll pat myself on the back a bit.
posted by Anything at 6:49 PM on October 9, 2011
I've suspected that a large portion would come instead from events like this, and that in events like this a large portion of the rock disintegrates into fine particles instead of just turning into smaller rocks of nevertheless appreciable size.
There's quite a puff of dust there so I think I'll pat myself on the back a bit.
posted by Anything at 6:49 PM on October 9, 2011
That'll be the day I go back to Annandale...
posted by crunchland at 6:50 PM on October 9, 2011 [4 favorites]
posted by crunchland at 6:50 PM on October 9, 2011 [4 favorites]
At 0:13 were you expecting the side of the cliff to fall off?
Coz a guy on that clip called it very early, and as calm as you'd like. "There it goes. There it goes." What the hell?
posted by uncanny hengeman at 7:14 PM on October 9, 2011 [2 favorites]
Coz a guy on that clip called it very early, and as calm as you'd like. "There it goes. There it goes." What the hell?
posted by uncanny hengeman at 7:14 PM on October 9, 2011 [2 favorites]
From the Bad Astronomy link, above: "At 12 seconds in, though you can’t see any rock movement, there is a crack in the cliff where debris is getting forced out, falling in a plume. The crack widens, and then WHOOSH!..."
posted by hank at 7:19 PM on October 9, 2011
posted by hank at 7:19 PM on October 9, 2011
So veddy British - "Ah. Well. There's that done then. Shame, that."
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:20 PM on October 9, 2011
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:20 PM on October 9, 2011
Well, that was a reasonable amount of potential energy turned kinetic.
posted by porpoise at 7:54 PM on October 9, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by porpoise at 7:54 PM on October 9, 2011 [1 favorite]
I have occasionally wondered which mechanisms are behind the formation of sand
Some of it is parrotfish poop.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 8:02 PM on October 9, 2011 [1 favorite]
Some of it is parrotfish poop.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 8:02 PM on October 9, 2011 [1 favorite]
I've suspected that a large portion would come instead from events like this, and that in events like this a large portion of the rock disintegrates into fine particles instead of just turning into smaller rocks of nevertheless appreciable size.
That rock is just compressed marine sediments to start with. So technically the rock is made of sand..... and shells and fish poop and stuff.
posted by fshgrl at 8:19 PM on October 9, 2011
That rock is just compressed marine sediments to start with. So technically the rock is made of sand..... and shells and fish poop and stuff.
posted by fshgrl at 8:19 PM on October 9, 2011
And if California slides into the ocean
Like the mystics and statistics say it will
I predict this motel will be standing
Until I pay my bill
posted by Meatbomb at 9:28 PM on October 9, 2011 [1 favorite]
Like the mystics and statistics say it will
I predict this motel will be standing
Until I pay my bill
posted by Meatbomb at 9:28 PM on October 9, 2011 [1 favorite]
That rock is just compressed marine sediments to start with. So technically the rock is made of sand..... and shells and fish poop and stuff.
Ah, well, that makes sense. I guess I'll have to keep a close eye on non-sedimentary cliffs then, should one come down in my presence.
posted by Anything at 9:39 PM on October 9, 2011
Ah, well, that makes sense. I guess I'll have to keep a close eye on non-sedimentary cliffs then, should one come down in my presence.
posted by Anything at 9:39 PM on October 9, 2011
"Otisburg?... Otisburg?!!"
posted by blueberry at 10:34 PM on October 9, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by blueberry at 10:34 PM on October 9, 2011 [2 favorites]
NORTH CLIFF COLLAPSES
The unique footage was taken by Cornwall Council Soils and Materials Engineer Richard Hocking. Richard was keeping an eye on a large crack in the cliff when the stunning natural drama unfolded on October 3rd.
The 42 year old engineer told the News: “We were keeping the public away from the cliff because a crack had appeared and we knew it was unsafe. So when I saw smoke starting to appear from the cliffside, I knew it was possible that the failure was underway. What we did eventually see was spectacular.”
a large portion of the rock disintegrates
It would be a mistake to assume that because you see a big solid cliff, you are looking at one big rock. This isn't exposed igneous formations like, say, Vazquez ("Star Trek") Rocks. It's more like rocky soil on top, with a mixture of rocks of various sizes broken up over millennia of groundwater action, topped with various amounts of sand, clay, and soil. What you saw was just a breaking of the glue, so to speak, due to erosive action that let loose a fall of this admixture of rock, sand, and soil. It wasn't created before your eyes, it was just held in place.
posted by dhartung at 12:06 AM on October 10, 2011 [3 favorites]
The unique footage was taken by Cornwall Council Soils and Materials Engineer Richard Hocking. Richard was keeping an eye on a large crack in the cliff when the stunning natural drama unfolded on October 3rd.
The 42 year old engineer told the News: “We were keeping the public away from the cliff because a crack had appeared and we knew it was unsafe. So when I saw smoke starting to appear from the cliffside, I knew it was possible that the failure was underway. What we did eventually see was spectacular.”
a large portion of the rock disintegrates
It would be a mistake to assume that because you see a big solid cliff, you are looking at one big rock. This isn't exposed igneous formations like, say, Vazquez ("Star Trek") Rocks. It's more like rocky soil on top, with a mixture of rocks of various sizes broken up over millennia of groundwater action, topped with various amounts of sand, clay, and soil. What you saw was just a breaking of the glue, so to speak, due to erosive action that let loose a fall of this admixture of rock, sand, and soil. It wasn't created before your eyes, it was just held in place.
posted by dhartung at 12:06 AM on October 10, 2011 [3 favorites]
This is why you don't use cliff faces on your currency.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 2:28 AM on October 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 2:28 AM on October 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
Thankyou dhartung, that explains his cool reaction.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 4:15 AM on October 10, 2011
posted by uncanny hengeman at 4:15 AM on October 10, 2011
New Hampshire lost the Old Man of the Mountain back in 2003.
And now they're rebuilding the foolish thing.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 5:59 AM on October 10, 2011
And now they're rebuilding the foolish thing.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 5:59 AM on October 10, 2011
Or simulating it, at any rate.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 5:59 AM on October 10, 2011
posted by Kirth Gerson at 5:59 AM on October 10, 2011
Oh, what a downer gravity is. Always trying to bring everybody down.
posted by kinnakeet at 6:22 AM on October 10, 2011
posted by kinnakeet at 6:22 AM on October 10, 2011
Richard was keeping an eye on a large crack in the cliff ...
I know what you're thinking.
posted by storybored at 8:00 AM on October 10, 2011
I know what you're thinking.
posted by storybored at 8:00 AM on October 10, 2011
This is not unlike something a friend of mine shot in Detroit several years ago.
posted by dersins at 8:34 AM on October 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by dersins at 8:34 AM on October 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
It's more like rocky soil on top, with a mixture of rocks of various sizes broken up over millennia of groundwater action, topped with various amounts of sand, clay, and soil.
I've driven Route 1 north from San Francisco to Gualala a fair amount, and I try very hard to not think about what the cracks in the asphalt mean. They are most noticeable in some sections of the southbound (oceanside) lane. South of San Francisco, Devil's Slide is a particularly notorious landslidey place, where the ground wants to give way beneath the road, and also wants to fall on top of it from above.
posted by rtha at 8:59 AM on October 10, 2011
I've driven Route 1 north from San Francisco to Gualala a fair amount, and I try very hard to not think about what the cracks in the asphalt mean. They are most noticeable in some sections of the southbound (oceanside) lane. South of San Francisco, Devil's Slide is a particularly notorious landslidey place, where the ground wants to give way beneath the road, and also wants to fall on top of it from above.
posted by rtha at 8:59 AM on October 10, 2011
This is why you'd never get me out on Preikestolen in Norway. --- here's a panoramic shot from there.
posted by crunchland at 9:10 AM on October 10, 2011 [4 favorites]
posted by crunchland at 9:10 AM on October 10, 2011 [4 favorites]
Not far from where the video is shot is Trebarwith Strand, a beach where I spent a lot of time as a kid exploring caves. The place was known (and I assume still is) for it's super fast tides which could come in pretty much on one wave. (RUN!!!)
One cave that my friend and I particularly liked went deep into the cliff face and formed a curving tunnel with another entrance on the beach about a hundred yards down. It had a sandy floor which was dotted with giant boulders and you could jump from one to the other all the way through.
I went back a few years later and the whole thing, cliff face, tunnel and all was gone replaced by an immense pile of rubble.
Gulp.
posted by merocet at 9:36 AM on October 10, 2011
One cave that my friend and I particularly liked went deep into the cliff face and formed a curving tunnel with another entrance on the beach about a hundred yards down. It had a sandy floor which was dotted with giant boulders and you could jump from one to the other all the way through.
I went back a few years later and the whole thing, cliff face, tunnel and all was gone replaced by an immense pile of rubble.
Gulp.
posted by merocet at 9:36 AM on October 10, 2011
Oh, what a downer gravity is. Always trying to bring everybody down.
No, no. Gravity is always trying to bring everything together. It's a unifying force!
Cross-posted from the optimism-pessimism thread...?
posted by darkstar at 10:31 AM on October 10, 2011
No, no. Gravity is always trying to bring everything together. It's a unifying force!
Cross-posted from the optimism-pessimism thread...?
posted by darkstar at 10:31 AM on October 10, 2011
To be accurate, gravity is me pulling the earth up.
...
Is there an ism for that?
posted by Anything at 5:03 PM on October 10, 2011
...
Is there an ism for that?
posted by Anything at 5:03 PM on October 10, 2011
A colleague of mine went up and did some surveying at the collapse site, he reckons that the fall was probably in the region of 200,000 tonnes. There are apparently cracks visible and an expectation that a further collapse will occur relatively soon.
posted by biffa at 5:15 PM on October 16, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by biffa at 5:15 PM on October 16, 2011 [1 favorite]
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posted by Anything at 5:30 PM on October 9, 2011