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Canada landslide sent seven Great Pyramids' worth of earth downhill, much of it still frozen
Yahoo • • science
Key Points:
- In 2018, a massive landslide in Canada's Northwest Territories displaced about 23.5 million cubic yards of earth, originating from frozen permafrost layers and creating a significant scar in the forest.
- Researchers identified a new category of landslides called permafrost detachment slides, which occur when thawing at the base of permafrost layers causes large frozen ground blocks to break free and slide downhill.
- Wildfires and warming temperatures weaken permafrost by creating tension cracks that allow water infiltration and thawing from below, increasing the risk of catastrophic slope failures decades after the initial disturbance.
- Scientists installed underground temperature monitoring instruments and used computer simulations to study how post-fire ground conditions evolve, confirming the link between wildfires, permafrost thaw, and slope instability.
- The phenomenon poses global risks, with similar unstable slopes and permafrost thaw concerns reported in Norway, Switzerland, and Nepal, underscoring the broader impacts of climate change on mountainous and Arctic regions.
