A massive rockslide closed a busy interstate route last week near the border between Tennessee and North Carolina in Pigeon River Gorge. This area has had landslide problems in the past. In 1997 a rockslide in the same area closed the freeway for approximately 3 months. (Photo from Landslides Under a Microscope Blog, original source not cited)

I have yet to see volume estimates, but The Charlotte Observer quoted a highway patrol officer who was at the scene:

He said the roadway is covered by a gigantic mound of debris, from pebbles up to house-sized boulders. The pile is 40 to 50 feet high, Williamson estimated, and hundreds of feet long.

More info and video after the break. […]

This amazing video has been making its way around the geoblogosphere as well as the mainstream media. Pretty remarkable. It ranks up there with the Japanese Landslide Video.

The comic book superhero GeoGirl fights to protect the public from geohazard villains such as Dick Clay and Lance Lied! These entertaining geotechnical comic books are developed by San Francisco Bay Area geotechnical engineering firm […]