UPDATE: Sudden movement raises alarm in Jackson, WY landslide area & Scientists puzzled by quakes near Challis, ID
April 18th, 2014
Here’s the latest update on the slow moving landslide in Jackson, WY
‘….Town officials first noticed significant hill movement April 4. They evacuated 42 homes and apartment units April 9, when the slide was moving at about an inch a day.
‘….Town officials first noticed significant hill movement April 4. They evacuated 42 homes and apartment units April 9, when the slide was moving at about an inch a day.
By Friday, the rate had surged to a foot a day. Overnight,
the shifting earth had bulged a road and parking lot at the foot of the
hill as much as 10 feet high. The groundswell pushed a small town water
pump building 15 feet toward West Broadway, the town’s main drag.
A large crack continued to widen
near the four homes at highest risk partway up East Gros Ventre Butte,
a small mountain on the west side of town. Meanwhile, a steady stream
of rock and dirt tumbled off the hill gouged with fresh gullies.
Efforts to slow the slide – such as
pouring rock and dirt fill behind large, L-shaped concrete barriers
arranged in a line at the base of the slide – were on hold to keep
workers out of the danger zone….’
Wyoming officials eye slow-moving landslide, evacuate residents
‘WYOMING – A slow-moving landslide the size of two football fields is steadily tearing apart a hilltop house from the inside and has prompted the evacuation of about 50 people and several businesses in the well-known skiing town of Jackson, Wyoming, officials said Saturday.
‘WYOMING – A slow-moving landslide the size of two football fields is steadily tearing apart a hilltop house from the inside and has prompted the evacuation of about 50 people and several businesses in the well-known skiing town of Jackson, Wyoming, officials said Saturday.
The slow movement, however, has only
a 5% chance of becoming the sort of violent landslide that killed 36
people last month in rural Washington state, said Roxanne Robinson,
Jackson assistant town manager.
“You know, I think that’s on
everybody’s mind, but I think our slide is different because it’s slow
moving. Theirs was catastrophic, and ours has been slowly creeping down
the hill,” Robinson said Saturday.
The 100-foot-deep landslide is
moving so slowly that local officials have been able to see how ground
cracks are emerging and growing by inches each day the past week. Crews
use binoculars to keep an eye on the hill while they stand at a fire
truck across the road….’
Homes Evacuated in Jackson Wyoming as Ground Shifts
Scientists puzzled by recent flurry of quakes in central Idaho
‘April 2014 – BOISE, Idaho (AP) – Three portable seismographs will be installed in the Challis area in central Idaho to help experts better understand a recent flurry of earthquakes. Harley Benz, scientist in charge of the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Earthquake Information Center, said scientists decided Tuesday to put in the devices. One of them should be in place by Wednesday and two more within a week to record future earthquakes. “It certainly has gotten the attention of the state and our regional partners,” Benz said. “So what we’re trying to do is put in an array to get a better feel for the location of the events and the depths and the rate of activity.” The U.S. Geological Survey has recorded a sequence of quakes rumbling the area, the largest of them being a 4.1-magnitude quake on Thursday, a 4.9 quake on Sunday and a 4.4 on Monday. Smaller quakes have also been recorded, including five on Monday ranging from 2.5 to 3.3 in magnitude. Three of the quakes took place within a 40-minute span starting about 9:12 p.m. Monday. The quakes have ranged from about 6 to 15 miles northwest of Challis in lightly populated Custer County. “People are asking: ‘Is this going to lead to a bigger earthquake?’” said Benz, based in Golden, Colo. “And the answer is we simply don’t know.” He noted the earthquakes are in the same region as Idaho’s largest recorded quake, a 6.9-magnitude in 1983 near Borah Peak, Idaho’s tallest peak at 12,667 feet….’
‘April 2014 – BOISE, Idaho (AP) – Three portable seismographs will be installed in the Challis area in central Idaho to help experts better understand a recent flurry of earthquakes. Harley Benz, scientist in charge of the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Earthquake Information Center, said scientists decided Tuesday to put in the devices. One of them should be in place by Wednesday and two more within a week to record future earthquakes. “It certainly has gotten the attention of the state and our regional partners,” Benz said. “So what we’re trying to do is put in an array to get a better feel for the location of the events and the depths and the rate of activity.” The U.S. Geological Survey has recorded a sequence of quakes rumbling the area, the largest of them being a 4.1-magnitude quake on Thursday, a 4.9 quake on Sunday and a 4.4 on Monday. Smaller quakes have also been recorded, including five on Monday ranging from 2.5 to 3.3 in magnitude. Three of the quakes took place within a 40-minute span starting about 9:12 p.m. Monday. The quakes have ranged from about 6 to 15 miles northwest of Challis in lightly populated Custer County. “People are asking: ‘Is this going to lead to a bigger earthquake?’” said Benz, based in Golden, Colo. “And the answer is we simply don’t know.” He noted the earthquakes are in the same region as Idaho’s largest recorded quake, a 6.9-magnitude in 1983 near Borah Peak, Idaho’s tallest peak at 12,667 feet….’
Per USGS there have been 21 EQ’s
above 2.5 magnitude near Challis in the last 7 days. All of which have
been very shallow. The deepest was 11.6 km and most are listed at 5 km.
That’s interesting to say the least.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/
These images are pretty crazy:
Montana/ Idaho Border: Lookout Pass Closed After Landslide
http://www.abcfoxmontana.com/
Landslide closes westbound lanes through Lookout Pass
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