A well-known arch at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area along Lake Powell, nicknamed "Toilet Bowl" as well as "Hole in the Roof" and other names, has collapsed.
Rangers say the arch, located in Rock Creek Bay, collapsed on Thursday, although a park release did associate a cause. The “Double Arch” geologic feature was also referred to as “Crescent Pool.”
No injuries were reported to have resulted from the collapse.
Double Arch was formed from 190-million-year-old Navajo sandstone originating in the late Triassic to early Jurassic periods, park staff said.
Since formation, this fine-grained sand feature has been subject to spalling and erosion from weather, wind, and rain. Changing water levels and erosion from wave action is suspected of contributing to the ultimate collapse of the arch.
"This event serves as a reminder of our responsibility and need to protect the mineral resources surrounding Lake Powell. These features have a life span that can be influenced or damaged by manmade interventions," said Glen Canyon Superintendent Michelle Kerns. "While we don’t know what caused this collapse, we will continue to maintain our resource protection efforts on Lake Powell for future generations to enjoy. Please enjoy our resources but leave no trace.”
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Comments
Cause of collapse: uh, gravity?
After many many years of it being there gravity decided to randomly pull it down? Cool, cool.
It's quite possible that over time the sand and rock supporting it changed and weakened due to rain, vibration, wind and manmade activity. Natural formations do fail eventually given the right conditions. This one looked like it could give way eventually due to its extensive overhang with no support. I am not any kind of expert but it seems logical to me.
Global Warming? Climate Change? Donald Trump mean Tweets?
None of the above......SHlT HAPPENS!
This will be blamed on climmat change mark my word. Not natural events that caused the erosion.
Don't be an idiot. It's being blamed on Lake Powell which is certainly a change in the supporting rock in the last several decades. Not global warming.
IMHO, the Park Superintendent should not have made an unsubstantieated claim that human activity contributed to the collapse of the arch. Her statement should have said that we don't know what caused the collapse as yet, and leave it at that.
Park Superintendent DID NOT say that human activity contributed to the collapse, as she clearly stated that they did not know the cause. She simply reminded the public that human activity CAN have an impact on these treasures, fulfilling her responsiblity as an advocate for the park.
Hear hear! Well said. I went through the replies hoping that SOMEBODY had the brains to point out the obvious to the people who did not!
Time, wind, rain, erosion. All things eventually come to an end.
It seems so difficult for some folks here to deal with the truth, eye witness observations, and science.
"While we don’t know what caused this collapse" Let's just blame it on what "can be influenced or damaged by manmade interventions," Sure, why not....
time eventually erases all this. there is no such thing as forever just for now.
No matter the cause, it's kind of sad to see it's gone. That sandstone was 190 Million years old. It was probably the dinosaurs walking on it that weakened it.
It was sandstone . . . very susceptible to erosion. Hopefully not related to any type of vandalism, but . . . as Aron Rawlston reminded us, geologic time includes now.
Sandstone anything lasting 190 million years? Not likely.
Seasons in the Sun~ Father Time is still Undefeated
Sooo.... gravity make airplanes crash? The denilists are like having a pilot in the cockpit who accelerates the plane when he discovers that the plane s heading to the ground!
There's no way of knowing what happened here, which the Superintendent makes clear. I would suspect that this was not an arch that a lot of people could climb on or under. However, it might help to understand that Lake Powell is hardly a natural lake, where the flow of water affects the sandstone.
I've visited other arches before, and often one can see what's clearly human-caused erosion around the base. Not sure what can be done about that other than declaring no-go areas. There's another place called Double Arch in Arches National Park, which is a very popular place for people to scramble under the arch. And I've clearly seen sandstone erosion all over NPS areas, which is inevitable when there's visitation.
Obviously natural changes would have an impact.
Surely the most logical way to present this story would be with a BEFORE and AFTER shot, wouldn't it?... What might have been interesting additional relevant information would have been a report on wear and tear from tourists, total annual number of visitors....people climbing all over the arch for photo ops etc and so on
Climate change? Seriously? Not everything that goes wrong in the world can be blamed in climate change.j5rQ
Correct me if I'm wrong, but Lake Powell is man-made, right? So submerging much of an arch underwater when it didn't form that way seems like a man-made cause. Either way, no biggie, nature will just make more.
Of course, all these formations were formed by erosion, and all are currently being slowly destroyed by erosion. Duh.
One has to wonder, if the dam was never built to form this lake, would this natural wonder still exist today? Its dimise was sure to happen at somepoint, but did "we" hasten it in any way?
We hastened it by damming the river, which raised the water levels to swamp its base. It is true that all arches formed by nature will eventually fall, but putting water up against and under a sandstone arch is going to cause it to fail sooner. Sandstone is only compressed sand, after all.
We humans are so quick to assign blame to natural occurences, especially if it advances our political agenda. The party line that man has caused all things that are undesireable is taking credit for things far beyond our ability to control. Nature created this arch over a period of millions of years. Blowing sand piled up and eventually turned to stone. More sand blowing and water flowing over this area caused the sandstone to erode. This is an ongoing process, it happens so slowly that we see these things as unchanging. The earth continues to evolve. The climate change we get so concerned about is natural. Ice ages have come and gone. Giant comets have hit the earth causing unimaginable changes. To believe that we have caused or can control the climate is crazy.