http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bighorn-mountains-crack-in-the-earth_5632bd19e4b00aa54a4da635
Ed Mazza
Overnight Editor, The Huffington Post
Posted: 10/29/2015 11:38 PM EDT
'Crack In The Earth' Opens Up In Foothills Of The Bighorn Mountains
"An awesome example of how our earth is not as stable as you might think."
Cancel the apocalypse.
A "crack in the Earth" really did open up in the foothills of Wyoming's Bighorn Mountains -- but it's not nearly as alarming as some of the reports on social media suggest.
Images of the crack, which County 10 says is about 10 miles south of the town of Ten Sleeps, were first posted online by SNS Outfitters & Guides.
some tweet things here(https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xat1/v/t1.0-0/p296x100/12033148_1076332949051839_6474886460307487062_n.jpg?oh=7b8c82eb1bb05e706ea6fde92caec370&oe=56B43E71)
SNS reports that "the gash" is about 750 yards long and 50 yards wide.
Hunter Randy Becker also shared a series of images of the scene on Facebook:
facebook things hereRandy Becker added 10 new photos.
Works at Merck and Company, Inc
· October 26 at 9:15pm · Casper, WY ·
..
While hunting this past weekend in the Bighorns, we came across an awesome example of how our earth is not as stable as you might think. Awesome forces at work here to move this much dirt!!
Randy Becker's photo.
Randy Becker's photo.
Randy Becker's photo.
Randy Becker's photo.
While impressive, the crack is not a sign that the nearby Yellowstone caldera is about to erupt, nor is it "mysterious," as many of the posts on Facebook and Twitter have suggested.
Experts say it's just normal geology at work.
SNS said an engineer came to inspect the formation and figure out the cause.
"Apparently, a wet spring lubricated across a cap rock," the company wrote on Facebook. "Then, a small spring on either side caused the bottom to slide out. He estimated 15 to 20 million yards of movement."
One expert who hasn't been at the scene, but saw the images, explained that the crack could be caused by a number of factors.
"A number of things trigger them, moisture in the subsurface which causes weakness in soil or geology, and any process that would weaken the bedrock or unstabilize it somehow," Wyoming Geological Survey's manager of groundwater and geologic hazards and mapping, Seth Wittke, told the Powell Tribune.
The survey's public information specialist Chamois Andersen added that "an early, wet spring and summer" may have also "had a lot to do with it."
"It is not uncommon to have slides like that," she said.
(http://wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/k2radio.com/files/2015/10/randy-becker-1.jpg?)
other pics here..can't copyhttp://k2radio.com/huge-crack-in-the-earth-opens-up-in-the-foothills-of-the-bighorn-mountains/
Quote from: space otter on October 30, 2015, 01:33:28 PM
"An awesome example of how our earth is not as stable as you might think."
The Earth MOVES all the time...
THIS is one example of change :P This was once flat at sea level :P
(http://a.static.trunity.net/files/320601_320700/320634/thumbs/canadian_rocky_mountains_438x0_scale.jpg)
ZOMG!!!! Found ANOTHER HUGE GINORMOUS CRACK in Arizona!!!
(http://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/grandcanyon_kojihirano_shutterstock.jpg)
Quote from: space otter on October 31, 2015, 02:29:39 PM
well I don't know why you went from earth crack to landslides.
.but here's some more crack info - info just for the heck of it :P
You said the Earth was not stable :P
A crack in the landscape usually precedes a landslide :P