Bingham Canyon Mine Landslide

Bingham Canyon Mine Landslide

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On April 10, 2013, a gigantic chunk of earth and rocks gave away and crashed into the humongous pit created by copper mining at the Bingham Canyon Mine in Utah, the United States. Approximately 65 to 70 million cubic meters of debris thundered down the walls of the mine reaching speeds up to 100 miles per hour. The event was so large that it shook the earth and the tremors were picked up by seismic sensors designed to record earthquakes. The intensity recorded by the instruments measured 2.5 in Richter Scale. In other words, the landslide felt like a 2.5 quake.

The incident was the largest non-volcanic landslide in the modern history of North America, and it occurred in the largest man-made excavation in the world.



Photo credit: unknown

photofun4ucom Pada July 22, 2016 Komentar

Charyn Canyon: The Grand Canyon of Central Asia

Charyn Canyon: The Grand Canyon of Central Asia

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Tucked away between the Ketmen and Ulken-Bogut mountain ridges in the southeast corner of Kazakhstan, close to the border with China, lies the “Grand Canyon of Central Asia” —an impressive gorge about 90 kilometers long carved by the fast-flowing Charyn river (also spelled as Sharyn) during its northward journey from its headwaters in the Tian Shan Mountains across the arid semi-desert east of Almaty. Parts of the canyon are up to 300 meters deep.

Several millennia of weathering action has revealed multiple layers of colored sediment deposits on the walls of the canyon. Of particular interest is a dry side ravine, about kilometer or two in length, called the Valley of Castles, where one can see towering rock formations which resembles, with some imagination, pillars and castles. The fairy-tale sandstone formations through the canyon have also been given names such as Notre Dame, Penguin, Donald Duck and Winnie the Pooh. This part of the canyon is about 100 meters deep and there is a path running down the base. This is the spot tour operators usually take tourists to when they visit the Charyn Canyon.



Photo credit: Andrew/Panoramio

photofun4ucom Pada July 06, 2016 Komentar

Velká Amerika: The Czech Grand Canyon

Velká Amerika: The Czech Grand Canyon

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Velká Amerika, or the Great America, is an abandoned limestone quarry located near the village of Mořina, in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic, just a few kilometers from Prague. This partially flooded elongated trench is the country’s most photogenic “natural” attraction to be conceived by human activities. The Czechs affectionately call it the Grand Canyon of the Czech Republic.

Quarrying activities started in this region in the late 19th century in response to the great demand for the stone. Limestone was used mostly in industries, to refine sugar from sugar beet, in blast furnaces for producing iron and in manufacture of glass, among others. Mining activities increased again after the first World War, and the quarries at Mořina became deeper and longer, until Velká Amerika became an 800-meter long and 100-meter deep gash on the landscape. After mining operation ceased in 1963, rainwater flooded the hole forming a lake at the bottom.

photofun4ucom Pada June 19, 2016 Komentar