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Nature running its course. I live in the same state as The Twelve Apostles [1], a famous group of limestone stacks on the coast of Victoria, Australia, south-w
by tomhoward 5y ago
Nature running its course.
I live in the same state as The Twelve Apostles [1], a famous group of limestone stacks on the coast of Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne.
Just up the road, there is a formation that was called London Bridge - a limestone formation protruding out from the land, with two stacks, making it a double-span bridge.
Then one day in 1990, the bridge section adjoining the land collapsed. Two sightseers were on it at the time, though mercifully not on the part that collapsed; they were rescued by helicopter after a few hours.
It just so happened that this collapse occurred during the high school year when we were studying limestone cliff formations in geography class. I remember our teacher impressing upon us that it was a geologically regular and normal occurrence, but infrequent in human life terms, so we were lucky to be able to observe the event just at the time we were studying the phenomenon.
Since then they've called it London Arch [2].
[1] https://explorethegreatoceanroad.com.au/the-twelve-apostles-in-australia/ https://explorethegreatoceanroad.com.au/the-twelve-apostles-...
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Arch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Arch
- daveslash 5y agoReminds me of the 2008 collapse of Wall Arch in Arches Nat'l Park, Utah. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_Arch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_Arch. Just a few days before it's collapse, I was climbing on it; well, I couldn't quite get to the Arch part (so I know it's collapse wasn't my fault), but I can't help but think: if it was on the verge of collapse, would it have been able to hold a couple of 150lb monkeys jumping around on it (my buddy and me)?
- mc32 5y agoI think wind forces are probably over 300lbs though perhaps different vectors. But who knows maybe you could have been the straw that would have broken the camel’s back.