Cliff collapse in Lake Superior, Michigan: Debris nearly miss a group of kayakers

A large section of a sandstone cliff suddenly collapsed into Lake Superior, located in northern Michigan, barely missing a group of kayakers on Monday, August 10, 2019.

The kayakers that were taking the tour of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, had stopped to admire the magnificent landscape when the rockfall occurred. According to reports, the height of the cliffs at the site is about 60 meters. 

Van Ouellette-Ballas, one of the tour's guide, stated that the group had observed smaller rockfall incidents the previous days. He added that they always kept a safe distance but, this time, the collapse posed a severe threat as debris missed the kayaks by almost 15 meters.

"We noticed it first when some little rocks fell down just next to one of our guides who was just under the cliff. We had no idea if there would be even more rockfall. We were kind of in shock and awe at the same time", Maxim Rigaux, one of the kayakers, said. He also added that even the tour guides were as shocked as the rest of the group as they had never saw a similar event.

Jon Smithers and Craig Blacklock, professional nature photographers, were on one of the kayaks and managed to deploy a drone that captured the cliff collapse on video. Click the link below to watch the impressive footage.

The slopes on Lake Superior are prone to such failures due to continuous wave action and erosion. "The slope has been over-steepened by waves pounding away at the bottom of the slope. The slopes becomes too steep, gravity takes over, and rocks start to fall", Richard Ziegler, Professor in the Geography department at Northern Michigan University, stated.