A 1-Minute ‘Rock Avalanche’ 4,800 Years Ago In Zion National Park

June 14, 2016 rockman Geologic Hazards Comments Off on A 1-Minute ‘Rock Avalanche’ 4,800 Years Ago In Zion National Park

Imagine the scene 4,800 years ago when a rock avalanche nearly 2 km long buried much of the Zion Valley in a matter of 90 seconds, creating a dam on the Virgin River that flooded essentially the entire floor of the canyon that millions of visitors enjoy every year. The researchers that analyzed this event are in the Geohazards group of the University of Utah led by Dr. Jeff Moore. Dr. Moore happens to be an old classmate of mine from the geological engineering program at the University of Arizona. I didn’t dig up the publication where this Zion Canyon research was written before it went viral, but there are some great figures posted on his website and I’m sure you can click around and find the citation if you are interested. [Source: YouTube via Geoengineer.org. Image: YouTube]

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