{"id":20053,"date":"2016-10-14T08:07:25","date_gmt":"2016-10-14T08:07:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/?p=20053"},"modified":"2016-10-14T14:34:18","modified_gmt":"2016-10-14T14:34:18","slug":"aletsch-landslide-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/2016\/10\/14\/aletsch-landslide-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Aletsch landslide: significant acceleration of movement"},"content":{"rendered":"<h5>Aletsch landslide<\/h5>\n<p>The movement rate of the Aletsch landslide in Switzerland, <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/2016\/10\/05\/aletsch-1\/\">which I highlighted last week<\/a>, has accelerated significantly in the last few days.\u00a0 This is a very large rockslope failure &#8211; the estimated volume is up to 200 million cubic metres &#8211; at Moosfluh in the\u00a0Riederalp, Canton du Valais, above the left flank of the Aletsch Glacier.\u00a0 Jens, a reader of the blog, kindly<a href=\"http:\/\/www.srf.ch\/news\/schweiz\/der-berg-bewegt-sich-und-zwar-rasant\"> highlighted a report about the landslide<\/a>, in German, on the Swiss SRF News website.\u00a0 This film should be visible below:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/tp.srgssr.ch\/p\/srf\/embed?urn=urn:srf:ais:video:2d516904-1a28-41af-8e2d-944512541e34\" name=\"Der Berg bewegt sich\" width=\"624\" height=\"351\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>A translation of the key part of the report is as follows:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span id=\"result_box\" class=\"\" lang=\"en\"><span title=\"Die Situation um die massiven Gel\u00e4ndebewegungen am Aletschgletscher hat sich in den letzten Tagen versch\u00e4rft.\">&#8220;The situation around the massive terrain movements on the Aletsch glacier has intensified in recent days. <\/span><span title=\"Die Felsspalten \u00f6ffnen sich bis zu 80 Zentimeter \u2013 t\u00e4glich.\">The fissures open up to 80 centimeters &#8211; daily<\/span>&#8230;<span title=\"Grosse Risse im Boden \u2013 Felsen, die immer mehr abrutschen: Die Wanderwege am Rande des Aletschgletschers sind aktuell Sperrgebiet.\">Large cracks in the ground &#8211; rocks that are slipping more and more: The hiking trails on the edge of the Aletsch Glacier are currently restricted areas&#8230;<\/span><span title=\"Geologen \u00fcberwachen es seit Wochen rund um die Uhr. \">Geologists have been monitoring it around the clock for weeks.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The film shows the very extensive cracking that has now developed across the landscape:<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_20055\" style=\"width: 624px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20055\" class=\"size-full wp-image-20055\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/files\/2016\/10\/16_10-Aletsch-4.jpg\" alt=\"Aletsch landslide\" width=\"614\" height=\"338\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/files\/2016\/10\/16_10-Aletsch-4.jpg 614w, https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/files\/2016\/10\/16_10-Aletsch-4-300x165.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 614px) 100vw, 614px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-20055\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Extensive ground cracking in the extensional component of the Aletsch landslide in Switzerland, via <a href=\"http:\/\/www.srf.ch\/news\/schweiz\/der-berg-bewegt-sich-und-zwar-rasant\">SRF<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n<p>The report indicates that the landslide is moving faster than had been anticipated\u00a0 The report quotes the geologist from the canton:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span id=\"result_box\" class=\"\" lang=\"en\"><span title=\"\u00abEs bewegt sich alles sehr schnell, solche Geschwindigkeiten habe ich noch nie gesehen\u00bb, sagt Rapha\u00ebl Mayoraz.\">&#8220;Everything is moving very fast, I have never seen such speeds,&#8221; says Rapha\u00ebl Mayoraz. <\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span id=\"result_box\" class=\"\" lang=\"en\"><span title=\"Bergstation l\u00e4sst sich verschieben \">An interesting dimension of this landslide is that a gondola the Moosfluhbahn &#8211; it even has its own <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/neubaumoosfluhbahn\/\">Facebook Page<\/a> &#8211; crosses the slope close to the landslide, constructed just last year.\u00a0 The upper station of the gondola was designed to move with the slope up to <\/span><span title=\"So l\u00e4sst sich die Bergstation 11 Meter horizontal und 9 Meter vertikal verschieben. \">11 meters horizontally and 9 meters vertically.\u00a0 At present the gondola remains open, and there does not seem to be major concern with regard to its safety..<br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The evolution of the slope will be fascinating to observe over the coming weeks.<\/p>\n<h5>Previous posts of interest:<\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"posttitle srch\"><a title=\"Permanent Link to Aletsch: a major developing post-glacial rockslide\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/2016\/10\/05\/aletsch-1\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Aletsch: a major developing post-glacial rockslide<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"posttitle srch\"><a title=\"Permanent Link to The remarkable Preonzo landslide in Switzerland last week\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/2012\/05\/22\/the-remarkable-preonzo-landslide-in-switzerland-last-week\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">The remarkable Preonzo landslide in Switzerland last week<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"posttitle srch\"><a title=\"Permanent Link to A fatal rockslide in Switzerland with major economic impacts\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/2012\/06\/06\/a-fatal-rockslide-in-switzerland-with-major-economic-impacts\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">A fatal rockslide in Switzerland with major economic impacts<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"posttitle srch\"><a title=\"Permanent Link to Now that is what I call a divot! An unusual hazard on a golf course in Switzerland\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/2013\/11\/07\/golf-hazard\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Now that is what I call a divot! An unusual hazard on a golf course in Switzerland<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"posttitle srch\"><a title=\"Permanent Link to The Val Strem rockslide \u2013 a dramatic long run out landslide in Switzerland\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/2016\/03\/17\/val-strem-rockslide-1\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">The Val Strem rockslide \u2013 a dramatic long run out landslide in Switzerland<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The movement rate of the Aletsch landslide in Switzerland has increased significantly in the last few days, and is now about 80 cm per day<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":20055,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[144,469,959,1175,136,444],"class_list":["post-20053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-landslide-report","tag-europe","tag-featured","tag-landslide-report","tag-profrssive-failure","tag-rockslide","tag-switzerland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}