Large crack in the Earth discovered’s size is estimated to be 750 yards long by 50 yards wide

A slow-moving fissure in Wyoming’s Bighorn Mountains has grown to the size of nearly seven football fields.

Massive Crack Opens In Wyoming Mountains

The remote mountain range crack began to form in late September possibly due to excessive moisture, a state geologist said.

A commercial hunting group discovered the massive opening last week and posted photos online.

Hunters from SNS Outfitters and Guides said a device used to measure distance for hunting purposes suggested the fissure was 750 metres long and 50 metres wide.

“Everyone here is calling it ‘the gash’. It’s a really incredible site,” SNS posted on Facebook.

Seth Wittke, division manager of the Wyoming State Geological Survey, said the so-called “mass wasting event” was not uncommon but this particularly fissure was relatively large by state standards.

He said most occur in remote areas and do not directly threaten lives or property.

“Each landslide is unique. You can’t say whether this one will be the one to fail but the potential does exist,” he added.

Large crack in the Earth discovered in Wyoming

A large crack in the Earth was discovered in a rural area near Ten Sleep in north central Wyoming, reports CBS Denver.

CBS Denver reports that geologists believe the crack is the result of a landslide. But it is unlikely anyone witnessed the landslide.

The size is estimated to be 750 yards long by 50 yards wide.

Chamois Andersen with the Wyoming State Geological Survey has seen pictures of the crack and told CBS Denver the evidence is all anecdotal so far, but not uncommon.

She said geologists there said: “It appears this may be due to groundwater has created weakness in what is already a saturated hillside. Further saturation like a wet spring and summer leads to more weakness, then the hillside shifted and caused a landslide with an associated large crack.”

Andersen advised people to stay away from the site because it is considered an active landslide and unsafe. CBS Denver reports it is no a threat to anyone, but people are still advised to stay away.

Anderson said she believes the slide happened gradually, over a week or two.

One of those who saw the crack was a hunter, Randy Becker. He stopped to take some photos.

“I was stunned. The magnitude of this shift in Earth is dramatic,” said Becker to CBS Denver. “It blows you away to see it.”

Massive Crack Opens in Wyoming

A massive and mysterious crack is developing in the state of Wyoming, leaving many to wonder what is going on.

The crack, which is located near the town of Ten Sleep is about 600 meters long and 50 meters wide, according to KUSA television in Denver, Colorado.

“We don’t really know what caused it, or if it’s done falling,” Sy Gilliland SNS Outfitter & Guides told KUSA. “One of my hunters stumbled on it when he was hunting there Oct. 1.”

Gilliland told the station that weeks later the crack had grown a lot.

“I don’t really think anyone knows what happened out there, all of a sudden it was just there. I think the reason it’s so fascinating is it’s so big. And it doesn’t make any sense, where it happened it’s just like the ground opened up, and the size of it is just huge.”

SNS said locals are referring to the crack as “the gash,” while others use “the crack.”

Mysterious ‘gash’ forms on Wyoming ranch, unleashing fears of hidden volcanoes and earthquakes

When a pair of hunting guides noticed a crack in the ground in a remote ranch of central Wyoming last month, they didn’t think much of it.

When they returned to the location in the Bighorn Mountains a few weeks later, they were shocked by what they found, according to NBC Affiliate KUSA.

“There it was, this huge slide or crack or whatever it is,” Sy Gilliland, owner of SNS Outfitter & Guides, which offers guided elk, antelope, deer, moose and bear hunts, told KUSA. “I don’t really think anyone knows what happened out there, all of a sudden it was just there. I think the reason it’s so fascinating is it’s so big. And it doesn’t make any sense, where it happened it’s just like the ground opened up, and the size of it is just huge.”

How huge?

About 50 yards wide and the length of six football fields, SNS reported on its Facebook page. Two posts about the crack generated widespread curiosity and were shared nearly 10,000 times.

[A combat dog who earned Bronze Stars in Iraq was killed in Wyoming. His owner wants to know why.]

According to the SNS, locals have been referring to the newly formed trench as “the gash.” Others simply call it “the crack.” Photos from the crevasse reveal steep cliffs, massive earthen towers and large boulders strewn across the bottom.

The gash’s size was impressive, but so was the speed at which it formed. Social media users speculated that the formation represented an impending volcanic eruption or an earthquake, but experts were quick to allay their fears.

On its Facebook page last week, SNS provided an update about what might have caused the ground to split open:

Since so many people have commented and asked questions, we wanted to post an update with a little more information. An engineer from Riverton, WY came out to shed a little light on this giant crack in the earth. Apparently, a wet spring lubricated across a cap rock. Then, a small spring on either side caused the bottom to slide out. He estimated 15 to 20 million yards of movement. By range finder, an estimate is 750 yards long and about 50 yards wide.

“Amazing what Mother Nature can do and is still doing,” one Facebook user commented.

“Holy mackerel…,” another added.

“A number of things trigger them, moisture in the subsurface which causes weakness in soil or geology, and any process that would weaken the bedrock or unstabilize it somehow,” Seth Wittke, Wyoming Geological Survey’s manager of groundwater and geologic hazards and mapping, told the Powell Tribune.

After studying the gash from afar, WGS public information specialist Chamois Andersen, offered Tribune readers some advice about the unstable formation as it continues to settle: Do not approach it.

http://www.albanydailystar.com/science/large-crack-in-the-earth-discovereds-size-is-estimated-to-be-750-yards-long-by-50-yards-wide-austin-daily-science-8234.html