4 ms·

The November 2020 landslide, tsunami, and outburst flood at Elliot Creek

26 points by subharmonicon 4y ago

gnabgib 4y ago
Title: The Ecological Catastrophe You’ve Never Heard Of A tsunami (habour wave[0]) was impossible. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsunami https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsunami
- defrost 4y ago
  Impossible? I'd love to hear you expand on that. From your link: > A tsunami is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explosions (including detonations, landslides, glacier calvings, meteorite impacts and other disturbances) above or below water all have the potential to generate a tsunami. From the article: > In seconds, 50 million tons of rubble landed in the milky-turquoise waters of Elliot Lake at the glacier’s foot. . The load of rocks that entered Elliot Lake forced up a tsunami over 300 feet tall—high as a skyscraper. The tsunami then blasted down the narrow lake at over 110 miles per hour. A 300 ft high wave caused by water dislaced by landslide fits the notions I've always had about a Tsunami.
  - m463 4y ago
    I like this animation which helped me visualize the process: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsunami#/media/File:Propagation_du_tsunami_en_profondeur_variable.gif https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsunami#/media/File:Propagatio...
btilly 4y ago
I'm reminded of the coulees of eastern Washington State that were formed by similar (but much larger) events at the end of the last ice age. https://wadnr.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.html?appid=84ea4016ce124bd9a546c5cbc58f9e29 https://wadnr.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.html?appid=... We live in a world with an illusion of stability. When the illusion is shattered, it can be impressive.
throwaway290 4y ago
I think there is a theory Younger Dryas was caused by something like that in Canada but at a way more epic scale.
dendrite9 4y ago
The best article I saw about this was from the Hakai institute. I found it very interesting and engaging, like their article about the Fraser river flooding last year. The 360 imagery, and slider comparisons do a good job to help understand the scale of the slide. Worth the time to read it. https://hakai.org/the-big-slide/ https://hakai.org/the-big-slide/ If you wanted to watch 50 mintues of helicopter flight over the debris, they posted one here: https://hakai.org/bute-inlet-landslide-the-extended-cut/ https://hakai.org/bute-inlet-landslide-the-extended-cut/ It looks like some researchers may have gotten lucky with the timing of this: https://twitter.com/bedform/status/1338989245487321091 https://twitter.com/bedform/status/1338989245487321091 And the slide cooled the inlet below it: https://hakaimagazine.com/news/massive-landslide-cools-fjord/ https://hakaimagazine.com/news/massive-landslide-cools-fjord...

26 points by subharmonicon 4y ago

Title: The Ecological Catastrophe You’ve Never Heard Of A tsunami (habour wave[0]) was impossible. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsunami https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsunami

defrost 4y ago
Impossible? I'd love to hear you expand on that. From your link: > A tsunami is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explosions (including detonations, landslides, glacier calvings, meteorite impacts and other disturbances) above or below water all have the potential to generate a tsunami. From the article: > In seconds, 50 million tons of rubble landed in the milky-turquoise waters of Elliot Lake at the glacier’s foot. . The load of rocks that entered Elliot Lake forced up a tsunami over 300 feet tall—high as a skyscraper. The tsunami then blasted down the narrow lake at over 110 miles per hour. A 300 ft high wave caused by water dislaced by landslide fits the notions I've always had about a Tsunami.
- m463 4y ago
  I like this animation which helped me visualize the process: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsunami#/media/File:Propagation_du_tsunami_en_profondeur_variable.gif https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsunami#/media/File:Propagatio...

btilly 4y ago

I'm reminded of the coulees of eastern Washington State that were formed by similar (but much larger) events at the end of the last ice age. https://wadnr.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.html?appid=84ea4016ce124bd9a546c5cbc58f9e29 https://wadnr.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.html?appid=... We live in a world with an illusion of stability. When the illusion is shattered, it can be impressive.

throwaway290 4y ago

I think there is a theory Younger Dryas was caused by something like that in Canada but at a way more epic scale.

dendrite9 4y ago

The best article I saw about this was from the Hakai institute. I found it very interesting and engaging, like their article about the Fraser river flooding last year. The 360 imagery, and slider comparisons do a good job to help understand the scale of the slide. Worth the time to read it. https://hakai.org/the-big-slide/ https://hakai.org/the-big-slide/ If you wanted to watch 50 mintues of helicopter flight over the debris, they posted one here: https://hakai.org/bute-inlet-landslide-the-extended-cut/ https://hakai.org/bute-inlet-landslide-the-extended-cut/ It looks like some researchers may have gotten lucky with the timing of this: https://twitter.com/bedform/status/1338989245487321091 https://twitter.com/bedform/status/1338989245487321091 And the slide cooled the inlet below it: https://hakaimagazine.com/news/massive-landslide-cools-fjord/ https://hakaimagazine.com/news/massive-landslide-cools-fjord...