Huge boulder collapse in Lake Powell after record drop in water levels due to drought

Arab Weather - Dramatic scene of the collapse of a huge rocky cliff on Lake Powell in the United States, the second largest water reservoir in the country, as water levels continued to decline due to severe drought conditions sweeping most of the West.

The rockslide comes as the waters of Lake Powell continue to drop to previously unimaginable lows amid a massive drought sweeping the West due to climate change.

(Mila Carter, who filmed the video with her husband, said when they noticed rocks and sand falling from the cliff near the entrance to Worm Creek. They stopped the boat and began taking pictures and recording a video of the event. The rock fell into the lake, a big wave formed in the lake, no one was hurt)

The lake's filling is now at about 26%, its lowest level since 1963 when the Glen Canyon Dam was built on the lake near the border between Utah and Arizona, and the federal government announced last month that it was taking unprecedented emergency steps to help raise water levels. into the reservoir by releasing more water from upstream of the Colorado River, while preventing the water from exiting into Lake Powell itself, rather than sending it to states downstream.

It's too early to tell if rockfall is related to persistent drought, said Tyler Knudsen, chief geologist with the Utah Geological Survey, since rockslides can be triggered by several other external factors — including rainfall, earthquakes, and daily factors such as fluctuations in the weather. Temperatures. He said even wave action from boats or wind can slowly erode cliffs and possibly cause rocks to fall.

"We see an increase in rockfall during extreme precipitation events and earthquakes, but it appears that none of these conditions were present at the time of the rockfall in the video, so its cause is still unknown," Knudsen added. "Sure, the lower water level could have been the motive, but, again, we can't say for sure at this point."

He continued, "We know that the creation of Lake Powell and the historical fluctuations in the water level have contributed to the high rate of rock precipitation, and that high or low water levels can contribute to rockfall, as rising water levels can saturate the rocks along the line. coastal and weakening the adhesion factors that bind the rocks together, while lower water levels can destabilize the slopes by decompressing some of the trapped rocks.

Lower levels can also increase the residual water pressure within the emerging massif as it attempts to equalize the lower reservoir level.

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