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MASSIVE Landslide

Last post 06-11-2008, 6:49 AM by Stevefromdodge. 48 replies.
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  • Re: MASSIVE Landslide

     03-03-2008, 12:34 PM

    Incredible stuff guys!  I've offered wondered what the first young brave thought when he explored the Table Mountain slide in the first few days after it happened. Now I have a better grasp on his thoughts.

    Of course, I still think you guys are as nutty as he was! Smile



    What do you suppose is around that next bend?
  • Re: MASSIVE Landslide

     03-03-2008, 3:16 PM

    Like any explorer it becomes an obsession. Don the slide looks like it was very close to the falls. When the next slide occurs and dams up Greenleaf Creek, the creek may be flowing down through the golf course and the hotel. There are so many potential places for slides from Cape Horn to Dog Mountain. The under-cut on Cedar Mountains west face  looks like it will collapse any day. It is just one huge pile of gravel.
    Jim Daly
  • Re: MASSIVE Landslide

     03-03-2008, 10:31 PM

    Here's a good description of the Bonneville Landslide on Lyn Topinka's site - complete with interesting photos.

    Great report, Don and Jamie!

    Tom
  • Re: MASSIVE Landslide

     03-03-2008, 10:42 PM

    • Joined on 08-16-2007
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        Tom was this a previous slide in the same area or the same slide we examined? I assume this was an earlier slide in the same area but let me know because I'm very curious.

    Thanks for the link… proof that the gorge is far from done as far as change goes, just glad it's there to witness, but not too close.

    Jamie

    When going back makes sense, you are going ahead.
    - Wendell Berry
  • Re: MASSIVE Landslide

     03-04-2008, 4:51 AM

    more movin' n' shakin' : http://portlandhikers.org/forums/29371/ShowThread.aspx#29371
    Jane Garbisch - Site Sherpa

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    "We are here on the planet only once.... might as well get a feel for the place."
    - Annie Dillard



  • Re: MASSIVE Landslide

     03-04-2008, 6:04 AM

    cluain:
    Like any explorer it becomes an obsession. Don the slide looks like it was very close to the falls. When the next slide occurs and dams up Greenleaf Creek, the creek may be flowing down through the golf course and the hotel. There are so many potential places for slides from Cape Horn to Dog Mountain. The under-cut on Cedar Mountains west face  looks like it will collapse any day. It is just one huge pile of gravel.

    Oh yes!  That reminds me of that slide that you, David and I went to check out on the West side of Cedar Mountain last season - that was an incredible sight even though it wasn't a tenth of the size of the one described here.  Again - my first impression is the NOISE - my second thought is: where are the seismic readings from the day this happened!

    Great photos guys - I love your photos of the falls with Table Mountain in the background.  What a scary and impressive sight!


    Jeff - Site Admin

    Someday you'll take me home to live forever....up on the mountain
    S. Chapman
  • Re: MASSIVE Landslide

     03-04-2008, 2:20 PM

    • Joined on 12-01-2007
    • Vancouver, WA
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    Jamie, thanks for the great pics!  In my opinion, this is THE most dangerous area in the gorge.  Last summer when I hiked up to the upper falls on Greenleaf I was astounded by how 'active,' even in August the mudflows looked!  I mean there was still moisture in them, and the strata of the entire area just made me wonder why it hadn't slid by now.  It had a very 'house of cards' feel on a giant scale.  Just mark my words on that upper falls - I bet it won't be here that much longer.

     

    '

  • Re: MASSIVE Landslide

     03-04-2008, 9:22 PM

    Steve, here's the best way to visualize the main Bonneville Landslide - this is the view looking north toward the Table Mountain/Greenleaf group, and the main landslide is the lobe of terrain that extends into the river, between Bonneville Dam and Rock Creek - you can see the bend that it created in the river, and the powerline corridor marks roughly the halfway mark in the length of the slide from Table Mountain to the river:




    Here's another view, this time showing the "profile" of the slide, plus the very obvious bend in the river that the slide created:




    An interesting factoid in this view of the slide is that the river basically cut through the low point in the debris to form the current channel, but many believe that the river was completely dammed for as much as a week before the "Bridge of the Gods" was cut through. Another factoid that you can appreciate in this view is that the hummocky terrain on the Oregon side (roughly the area located between the powerline corridor and the river) is "slop-over" (a technical geologic term) debris that was pushed up the far side of the river by the force of the slide. If you've hiked to Dry Falls from BOTG, then you've seen this odd terrain, complete with dry ravines and hollows.

    The most interesting new thinking on the Bonneville Slide is just when it occurred: the original theories placed the slide at about 1100 or 1200 AD, but more recently, the thinking is that it occurred as a result of the 1700 AD Cascadia Earthquake, a massive 9.X quake that sent a recorded tsunami to Japan. The fact that it was well documented on that side of the ocean allows geologists to place it quite specifically to the morning of January 26, 1700, at about 9 AM! This more recent date helps explain the existence of the "submerged forest" that still exists below the Bonneville Pool, but was once visible along the Oregon shore, opposite Wind Mountain, and the very specific Native American accounts, via mythology.

    A final factoid: the designers of Bonneville Dam were well aware that they were building on unstable land, so the design is a "floating" structure that rides like a raft on the debris, as opposed to being anchored like Grand Coulee or Hoover Dam. So it's very unlikely to be compromised by a geologic event.

    Tom
  • Re: MASSIVE Landslide

     03-04-2008, 9:47 PM

    • Joined on 08-16-2007
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        Wow that's cool Tom… Thanks for the aerial perspective. Makes this more recent slide seem like a drop in the bucket. Maybe we should all quit our day jobs and become like
    blackopp/geologist/waterfall hunters… do you think we could get paid for something like that?

    Thanks Tom, once again you have amazed me at the wealth of knowledge you contain.

    JC

    When going back makes sense, you are going ahead.
    - Wendell Berry
  • Re: MASSIVE Landslide

     03-04-2008, 10:20 PM

    Wow Don and Jamie, I did not expect that scale.

    On Jan 18th, I was hiking on the PCT in Oregon and took some shots of Table and Greenleaf.  I just went back and looked and zoomed in on the slide area.

    Does this look like the slide was in progress? It looks like part of the mountain has  detached and just slid down a short way. Compare to Toms pic on the previous page:

    Jan 18(cfm):

    Last weekend(Tom):

  • Re: MASSIVE Landslide

     03-04-2008, 10:53 PM

    • Joined on 08-16-2007
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        Don and I were trying to guess when this slide occured and we were thinking it was either early November to late December and your shot CFM from Jan 18 shows the slide had already occured, which explains why there were patches of snow up there still. Also what is worth noting is Don contacted the head of the USGS for this area and someone else at a different organization that monitors this type of avtivity and neither one of these individuals had any knowledge of this slide, so it will be interesting to hear what come out of this in the next few weeks.

    Jamie

    When going back makes sense, you are going ahead.
    - Wendell Berry
  • Re: MASSIVE Landslide

     03-05-2008, 8:51 AM

    • Joined on 06-13-2006
    • Vancouver, WA
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    chubby fm:

    Wow Don and Jamie, I did not expect that scale.

    On Jan 18th, I was hiking on the PCT in Oregon and took some shots of Table and Greenleaf.  I just went back and looked and zoomed in on the slide area.

    Does this look like the slide was in progress? It looks like part of the mountain has  detached and just slid down a short way. Compare to Toms pic on the previous page:

    Cfm: Thank you again for alerting us to this slide!! In the photos both you and Tom took, most of the slide is hidden behind the ridge and trees on the east side of the slide. I'm certain it was only one big slide rather than several smaller events - the way the rocks are positioned similar to other big slides I've seen is consistent. Also, I went back and looked at the pics I took when I climbed Table Mt. on Jan. 6th and the slide is there.  I noticed it then but through the snow and mist, didn't give it much thought - I could see the many trees lined up parallel on the lower east side and it looked like a clear cut with trees ready to haul out. I'll post that pic alongside a current one as soon as I can get back up on Table again to duplicate the shot - probably late Thurs. or Friday, if the weather holds.The USGS guy I know has sent links to other geologists and they are trying to pinpoint the time of the slide through seismograph records. He said that if it happened during a downpour (likely) the background "noise" in the record might mask the event.  Anyway, I'll post whatever he finds.

    Tom, I wonder about some of the old growth trees that were wiped out by the slide - some of them are very big and old - possibly dating to the time of the 1700 earthquake. If one of them is older than 308 years, that would prove the bonneville slide predated the earthquake. Wouldn't it be interesting if they were exactly 308 years old!

    Don


    "If I had known I was going to live this long I'd have taken better care of myself" - anon
  • Re: MASSIVE Landslide

     03-08-2008, 8:12 PM

    I heard you made the news!
  • Re: MASSIVE Landslide

     03-08-2008, 8:51 PM

    • Joined on 06-13-2006
    • Vancouver, WA
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    chubby fm:
    I heard you made the news!

    I really wish that you could have joined us last Sunday - you really deserve the credit for this. It was your report that started the whole thing. Once Jamie, Ardith and I went up there, I sent the link to folks I know at the USGS, the Columbian newspaper, etc. and from there it went out like a chain letter. By Friday afternoon, the Associated Press had called me to run the story nationally. Fun stuff, for sure!

    I will try to organize a trip up there soon to include some of the people from the USGS, DNR and others and will keep everyone in the loop.

    Don

     


    "If I had known I was going to live this long I'd have taken better care of myself" - anon
  • Re: MASSIVE Landslide

     03-08-2008, 8:55 PM

    oops, sorry I didn't see the other post. No worries, I feel like I was there with you. Actually it was one of my hiking companions Mark who first spotted the cliff edge and Neal and Andrew who were part of the expedition party and excited discussion we had as we viewed it from the base of Table.

    It's exciting to be a witness to this geological history - the time scales usually seem so hard to comprehend.

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