Landslide! - News from Dorset

[jpc]

I just saw this from yesterday about a huge landslide in Dorset

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9467211/Biggest-rockfall-60-years-sees-4-000-ton-chunk-430ft-high-cliff-collapse.html?fbclid=IwAR2FzWq4RK5cNiT9gxQgaURCcj9D6GGEpgUMfF14e-QGw1mzp01-l2W1pLo

 

One might think out loud... now is a good time to go look for fossils in all that fresh rock, but I am sure that this thing indicates that the area is generally less stable than we would all want it to be, as spoken by this official (from the posted link) below.   My question is.. when do beach collectors in the UK and otherplaces get back out to these sorts f palces after a landslide?  I guess the local officials make these decisions?  

 

'It is a huge landslip, certainly the biggest one I've seen in my 40 years in Bridport.

'I was chatting to some of the people who live by the beach and one man who's been here for 60 years said it's the biggest one he's ever seen.

'By the looks of things there could well be more to come so people need to stay away from that area of the beach.'

Dorset Council has warned that further falls are expected - and urged residents to stay clear of the area.

 

 

 

[JamieLynn]

A friend posted a picture of it a couple days ago. It is terrifying. HUGE. 

[jpc]

biggest one in 60  plus years said the story.  Good thing it happened at night.  

[Troodon]

Wow, I've seen these landslides at Calvert Cliffs in Maryland and although not as big some was quite impressive.  Yet every weekend you see children collecting underneath the cliffs standing right next to the cliff.   These falls however were a collectors dream with collectors swarming over it looking for the grey zone with all the fossils.   The timing of this one was very fortunate.   

[Crusty_Crab]

Also thinking out loud, but the quote from the Dorset Council seems to be on point- if there was one massive landslide, would it not stand to reason that there is the potential for another massive landslide in the adjacent cliffs? Would this then not be a good time to be swarming the area? I would expect that the next step would be to send a licensed engineering geologist to the location to determine the stability of the surrounding rocks before making any determinations if the area is safe. 

[FossilDAWG]

I imagine that it will take years for all that material to be washed away by the sea, so (assuming the right layers are included in the fall) fossil hunting should be good for quite a while.  No rush to get in there while things are still unstable.

 

Don

[EscarpmentMary]

I don’t know if this is appropriate here but here is a photo taken in 1941 of my mother as a child, my Grandmother and Grandfather, on the Dorset Coast. The next day my Grandfather shipped off to war, was captured and would spend the next four years in a prisoner of war camp in Japan. History, one dang thing after another.
 

[DE&i]

Your right @FossilDAWGthe majority of the slip is seabed sands, which have dragged down a little of the unstable clay's. I doubt there will be a abundance of fossils. 

[jpc]

6 hours ago, Crusty_Crab said:

 if there was one massive landslide, would it not stand to reason that there is the potential for another massive landslide in the adjacent cliffs? 

Or has the pressure been relieved causing the cliff to be more stable than it was last week?

[Oxytropidoceras]

Fossil hunters urged to stay away after massive Jurassic Coast landslide, LBC, April 15, 2021

 

Jurassic Coast cliff collapses in biggest UK rockfall for 60 years, The Guardian, April 15, 2021

 

'Substantial' rockfalls between Seatown and Eype Beach, BBC News, April 14, 2021

 

Yours,

 

Paul H.

[Fossildude19]

TOPICS MERGED.  

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

On 4/14/2021 at 11:34 PM, DE&i said:

Your right @FossilDAWGthe majority of the slip is seabed sands, which have dragged down a little of the unstable clay's. I doubt there will be a abundance of fossils. 

 

That's at least a bit of a relieve for us stuck in France, then, with - at present still - a restriction on travelling more than 10km from home

 

But yeah, heard about it but hadn't seen any pictures. But that slide is just HUGE! I've seen a couple along the coasts and on videos, but I can't even fathom the size of this one...

 

Actually, considering what I was told about Black Ven in Lyme Regis a couple of years back, the giant rock slide they had there a few years prior kind of prevented any further cliff erosion, meaning the influx of new material was gradually slowing down... A slip like this is likely to have the same effect.

 

It's not the only place I've been hearing about huge slips about either, though: heard about one in the French Boulonnais earlier this year (also, unfortunately, inaccessible due to Covid-restrictions), and the article I read about the Dorset fall in also mentioned a sizeable one at Dover... I cannot help but wondering whether this might not be a sign of the environmental impact of climate change? I mean, sure, cliff fall happen all the time, but this year has seen a higher frequency with bigger slips than I've noticed in the news before...

[Coco]

Hi,

 

This winter we had a lot of nights with frost, much more than some years, and it’s probably related to the last cliff falls.

 

Coco