5 March 2018
Landslide weirdness – a landslide as a “crashed UFO”
Posted by Dave Petley
Landslide weirdness – a landslide as a “crashed UFO”
Occasionally I like to feature items of landslide weirdness, such as face of Jesus in a landslide scars or landslides being caused by poleward shifts. Today I think I may have found one that tops them all to date – a landslide that is interpreted as being a crashed UFO. The source is a Youtube video that appears to have gone viral. Posted on Youtube by “Secureteam10”, the video purports to show a crashed UFO on the island of South Georgia. At the time of writing it has been viewed over 700,000 times:-
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The core of the video is this object and its associated trail through the snow:-
The apparent UFO (actually a long runout landslide) in South Georgia, via Google Earth
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In the video this is interpreted as a UFO that has crash landed. The object is seen as being a 50 metre long alien space craft that has slid to a stop across the snow and ice, having first crashed into the mountain.
However, the image above shows a different story (even if you discount the problems of the trajectory of the UFO before it struck the hillside). The image clearly shows that the trail extends from a landslide deposit. A closer view confirms this:-
The landslide deposit, and above it the scar, for the apparent UFO, via Google Earth.
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Clearly evident is a comparatively recent (at the time of the image) landslide deposit. The trail extends high into this deposit. Upslope from the landslide mass are a series of scars – it is not possible to determine from which of these the landslide originated.
Of course the runout trail is quite unusual. I am not sure if a block has detached from within the mass, and then moved downslope, or if it tumbled onto the mass from above, and then slid. If I was a betting man (and I am not) I might go for the latter explanation, but without a more detailed investigation I am speculating. But either way this is conventional landslide behaviour on snow and ice covered surfaces, and we have seen other large isolated boulders travel long distances. In this case the elongate shape of the block favoured sliding rather than rolling, but as the friction of the substrate is low the distance travelled can be large.
It is an interesting case study, and as such it is a good find by Secureteam10. But it is not a UFO.
Dave Petley is the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hull in the United Kingdom. His blog provides commentary and analysis of landslide events occurring worldwide, including the landslides themselves, latest research, and conferences and meetings.
Rockfall followed by supranival debris transport. Depending on the velocity of the boulder, properties of the ice and angle of the slope, this boulder could easily travel a long way.
Rockfall followed by supranival debris transport where the boulder slides/rolls/bounces over the ice. Depending on the velocity of the boulder, properties of the ice and angle of the slope, this boulder could easily travel a long way.
I WANT TO BELIEVE
Were I inclined to speculate, I’d propose an alternative theory as a serac failure (a block of ice detaching from those gorgeous seracs ie ice cliff) as I can see no hint of dark rock or soil in the deposit, but as I write this I see a black van stopping in front of my house and OH MY GOD OH MY GOD THEY ARE COMING
…
Errrr, no, just thinking nothing.
It appears to me the trail is formed by a huge mountain block that got dislodged from higher reaches due to some rock slide or tectonic disturbance. The block is still moving .
Well how hard would it be for National Geographic or Nato to go there and verify on the field? Someone somewhere with a bit of time and ressources could just go and do some (live) and objective science.
The language and childish snear factor of this article is ignorant. We are long past the years of debate about UFO’s existing. Highest level insiders have disclosed the truth long ago, and the real discussions now are about exopolitics.
So a few civilians, miss the mark and draw a wrong conclusion. Get with the times and start studying authentic top rung people like Honourable Paul Hellyer, Canadian Defense Minister. Otherwise you look like the ‘wingnuts’.
[Can I suggest that you organise an expedition to take a look then? I will happily eat humble pie when you prove me wrong.]
No bolder is 200′ long. Why not several bolders? Everytime you see the title of the story and they call people names, like Wingnut, you can bet they are trying to cover up. Works every time, watch for it.
LiveScience have responded to this https://www.livescience.com/61926-snow-antarctica-google-ufo.html
And you source your information from an alleged “expert” on mountain landslides who is purely speculating on the event himself.
Nice try!
[Not speculating – interpreting the evidence based on processes that we observe around the world on a regular basis. The same cannot be said for an interpretation based upon the crash of an alien spacecraft, of which we have no scientific evidence whatsoever, on a trajectory that looks to me to be impossible. Prove me wrong. D.]
I’m a little confused as why this story even mentions a sight on YouTube that was discussing Aliens? It seems like they couldn’t find anything interesting to write here and needed to piggy back off of a site that they said got 700,000 views so someone would read this story. I guess I don’t understand why the they made the focus point about someone else rather than the subject.
[I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about to honest. D]
At Dave Petley….First of all Secureteam10 did not say it was a 100% UFO …. Go back and watch the video FYI….. He said it looks like something hit the Mountain like a UFO or a Asteroid meaning NOT A UFO stuipd… Also he said it could be just debris from the mountain cause by a avalanche….
[The text under the video, posted by Secureteam10, says: “UFO Landing Coords: 54°39’44.62″S 36°11’42.47″W”. D.]
The thing that’s wrong with the article by gismodo or whatever is that secure team 10 never said it was a UFO’s”
The show clearly says they don’t know what it is” there asking if anybody knows to leave a suggestion,so that person has some real hatetred against the ufo theroy,but look how closed minded he is that he didn’t even pay attention to the show before he made his comment,typical hater!
It’s not a a ufo! Are you happy now?
Who cares!! In this instance!
It doesn’t prove UFO’s don’t exist!
I don’t even know why I’m replying!
[Et tu? D.]
The formation in question veers a bit to the right, it is not a straight shot, (as seen clearly in the pictures above) Sure, yeah right… Sounds like the govt machine covering up another unexplained picture… It won’t be long before they have it airbrushed out of Google Earth, just like they Have done with mars & the moon. When will they just admit it & get it over with already. So tired of hearing cover-ups!
[Goodness, you think I am covering up for the government? You are wrong D.]
Well, not unsual to see boulders getting a longer runoff on previous debris deposits… it doesn’t look like steep on the picture, but I’m pretty sure it actually is (probably an accumulation of serac/rocks deposits at toe of the cliff). The object could be a big ice block part of a serac collapse, a longer one that could have been transformed into a sledge while falling in the proper position, probably due to chance, but chance does a lot in science. Good luck with the complotists Dave!.
If you watched the video you would know that they never claimed it was a UFO . He speculated on all kinds of answers to what it is and at the end said “You decide “. I think there is a bit of jealousy from that author of that critical article. Plus that is clearly NOT A BOULDER!!
[The Youtube page says “UFO Landing” D.]
You sir are a idiot…
Did you bother to watch the video ?
No…
No one said it’s a UFO
Dick…
[Richard, thanks for your comment. D.]
So you think it’s just a coincidence that the “boulder” stops at coordinates which contain the digits for pi? Where’s Agent Mulder when you need him??
What’s weird is that the new satellite photos of the object are censored..
[Can you provide an example? D.]
Is that a passenger jet ?
[No D.]
Anything the least but unusual–alines must have done it!
https://www.amazon.com/Mystery-Skies-UFOs-Fiction-Folklore-ebook/dp/B07GJS1DV7/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1536770748&sr=1-1&keywords=mystery+in+the+skies+david+Rogers
The thing is: If it’s just a boulder, then why is there a giant pile of snow in front of the object? Even a heavy and fast rock / piece of ie wouldn’t just slide that long, it would start to roll at some point. At the end it could come to an halt in a sliding motion, but the object would have to have much more kinetic energy, thus high mass or high velocity. Second of all, if it’s just a boulder, why did google blur the picture?
Makes you think…
[If it is tabular, moving on a low angled, smooth surface it will just slide – like a coin sliding across a table. Google have not blurred the image. There really is nothing exciting here. D.]
The UFO landing in Broadhaven Wales uk. at year 1977 is real ,see on google ,’ BBC report ,’ UFO landing in Broadhaven Wales uk. ,40 schoolchildren and their teachers see for one hour an UFO ,land near their school !
The british film UFO S.H.A.D.O. ,’ The sound of silence ,’ says an UFO bring viruses by other star systems to planet earth ,may be COV 19 and shows an vaccination against alien viruses ! http://www.daniken.com says this telepathic beauty alien insect 1,60 meter great women with their UFO space ships land since 6000 years on planet earth an we humen reload automatic several religions in humen history because our ,’ gods ‘ come by other star systems and land here on planet earth ,alien insects,1,60 meter great ,telepatic,with humen beauty women faces ,with insect rules ,than are we humen ,’ insect food !? The SETI film ,’ Contact ,’ with Jodie Foster shows an ,timeless timefield ,UFO Spaceship object ,with insect telephatic beauty woman astronaut ,’ Jodie Foster ,land on planet earth ! I have seen that real ! Yours Peter