An extraordinarily big landslip has been discovered near Glacier Bay in southeast Alaska . Aerial exposure show a coke - capped mountain with a huge clump take out of it — and a rubble landing field that exsert for well-nigh seven sea mile .
The Lamplugh Glacier stone avalanche , which occurred at 8:21 a.m. on June 28 , was discovered by Paul Swanstrom , a pilot burner fromMountain Flying Service . No one was around to witness the event , but it must ’ve been an amazing spate . A 4,000 foot - in high spirits mountainside crock up , unleashing an estimated 150 million tons of rock and roll . The rushing debris spilled onto a glacier below , creating a runout field that extended for 6.5 mile .
Swanstrom managed to shoot some unbelievable television as he fly over the detritus field .
“ This is a very authoritative event , ” noted Columbia University inquiry professor Colin Stark in a KTOOarticle . “ We have issue like this maybe three to five times per yr across the entire world . And the St. Elias Range , and Glacier Bay — Southeast Alaska in general — are hotspots for rock avalanche , or very declamatory landslides . ”
Stark estimates that the force of the slide was around 280 giganewtons , which he compare to 100 million cars falling down the slope . Stark and his workfellow were able to detect the landslide using long - length seismometers , and read he knew about this one “ very quickly ” after it go on . The slide was so enceinte it registered 2.9 on the Richter Scale .
Writing in the AGU ’s Landslide Blog , geologist Dave Petleysaysit ’s “ a very deeply - seated , ridgepole crest to slope toe bankruptcy of unusually large proportion . ” bit of rock-and-roll and clay flowed on the glacier , creating “ complex structures at the toe , ” which were in all likelihood because of the “ final crawling stage of movement . ”
Petley allege that this part of Alaska is now the global “ hot spot for rock avalanche bodily function . ” There have been at least five major avalanche result near Glacier Bay recently , prompting Petley to say that a “ elaborate written report is urgently needed to understand why this surface area is so active at present . ”
[ KHNS , KTOO , AGU Landslide Blog ]
GeologylandslidesScience
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