The landslide at the Bingham Canyon copper mine that occurred last April, near Salt Lake City in Utah, seems to be the largest non-volcanic landslide in North America in modern times, with almost 65 million cubic meters of deposited material. A new research based on geophysical data collected by seismic and acoustic sensors, was recently published in the Geological Society of America magazine, GSA Today.
According to the paper, the landslide happened in two distinct phases that were almost 1.5 hours apart. On a seismic scale the events correspond to magnitudes (Ms) of 5.1 and 4.9, respectively. Researchers say that immediately after the second rock avalanche, an ML 2.5 earthquake followed by three smaller quakes, occurred at shallow depths (<2 km) beneath the mine. According to cross-correlation analyses using the four aforementioned quakes, twelve additional smaller quakes had occurred. Six of them appeared between the two events, five of them two days later and one earthquake ten days after the landslide. Due to previous geotechnical surveillance the area's instability was known, and thus no fatalities or injuries were reported. The absence of earthquakes ten days prior to the incident and the concurrence of these tectonic events and the landslide lead to the assumption that the quakes are aftershocks of the rock avalanches. As authors say: "it appears that in this case the common geological sequence of events was inverted: Instead of a large earthquake triggering landslides, it was a landslide that triggered several small earthquakes."
You can find the pdf paper file: "Massive landslide at Utah copper mine generates wealth of geophysical data" in our Online Library.
Source: Deseret News
It is widely known that earthquakes can trigger disastrous landslides but, what about the opposite?...
According to a new study, published in Seismological Research Letters, the deep landslides that wer...
On Monday, a pilot in the Mountain Flying Service discovered the aftermath of a massive landslide ne...
A research from scientists at Oregon State University shows that a severe earthquake can cause...
A 6.1 earthquake was measured in the Atacama Desert near Diego de Almagro, Chile on July 25th. Accor...
More than 300 landslides struck Raoul Island, New Zealand after strong earthquakes occurred in earl...
A shallow landslide occurred in the Italian town of Montescaglioso last Tuesday, destroying roa...
The aim is to get a better understanding of landslides with every report made Landslides ca...