Geology at work: Famous stone arch collapses in Utah national park
by Thor on Aug. 11th, 2008
One of the iconic images of Arches National Park in Utah, the Wall Arch, collapsed last week. Global warming is not to blame for this, just regular old geologic forces of erosion and gravity working against the beauty of the rock formation. Click here for the full story and before and after photos. The last major arch to collapse at the park went down in 1991.
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This is a good reminder that our surroundings are not set in stone - they are ever changing, even if they do change slowly. I have never been to the park so I don't have emotional attachment. I am sure frequent visitors are devastated - I would be sad if the large statue of Paul Bunyan fell down.
Ha! Paul Bunyan for sure.
Would any of you ever consider artificially supporting structures like this? I wonder if we will get to a point where we try and maintain some geological wonders because we like how they look even though it isn't natural. I don't necessarily think it is a good idea...but it wouldn't surprise me if someone proposed this.
A different account I saw on this story (I wish I had the link at my finger tips) seemed to say that the rangers at Arches National Park see these collapses as naturally occuring events and don't want to take steps to prevent them from happening. Which is a good thing, don't you think?
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