Earthquakes and/or Volcanoes

[AndyinPA]

They evacuated the Blue Lagoon again last night when this started, according to people on my FB feeds traveling in Iceland right now.

[shannon]

They evacuated the Blue Lagoon again last night when this started, according to people on my FB feeds traveling in Iceland right now.

Not a surprise to be honest, through they seem to have reopened now.

Blue Lagoon is too big of a tourist draw to really close down.

[Volkonski]

If it fills with lava that will shut it down.

[Gene Kooper]

Well, if lava does pour into the Blue Lagoon, they'll quickly market it as the Blue Steam Sauna.

Yeah, I know! Bad rockhead joke.

[RTH10260]

[northland10]

If it fills with lava that will shut it down.

Tourons will do selfies of them jumping into lava. It's what they do.

[keith]

Well, if lava does pour into the Blue Lagoon, they'll quickly market it as the Blue Steam Sauna.

Yeah, I know! Bad rockhead joke.

Ya know, the Blue Lagoon is formed with water from the power plant. If it fills with lava, they'll still need to put the water somewhere. So, yeah they'll make another Lagoon, and of course they should try to do something useful with all the steam while they are at it, so maybe your joke isn't so far off.

[Volkonski]

Landslides are wreaking havoc on this California city. Locals vow to stay

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0496gdg209o

The land is moving and sinking so fast in parts of the California community of Rancho Palos Verdes that authorities have switched off gas and electricity “indefinitely” to hundreds of homes.
The area has long grappled with unstable land but now the landslides causing the problem have accelerated. Some buildings could be swallowed completely.
Power company Southern California Edison had to cut power last week “to avoid the risk of utility equipment igniting a wildfire” in the rugged areas where the land is shifting.
SoCalGas began to shut off natural gas services to the area in May, and on Friday expanded the outage to 54 more homes after a gas line break last week.
The neighborhood of Portuguese Bend is the worst hit by the problem.
City officials issued an evacuation warning there a week ago.
Some residents left, but others are determined to stay.
They're banding together, installing generators as well as the sewer system and pumps needed to expel the groundwater causing the landslides.
One man's house “split in half”, Jackie Golison told the BBC on a recent tour of her neighborhood.
Driving on buckled roads, Ms Golison said a few months ago streets were smooth. Now they’re like the Disney attraction “Mr Toad’s Wild Ride”.
She points to a home ripped off its foundations with the front door elevated about 8ft from the ground. The scene looks like the aftermath of an earthquake.
“It’s worse than an earthquake,” she said. “It’s heaven in here though. Pure bliss when it's not moving.”
Portuguese Bend has ocean views and sea breezes. Horses and peacocks roam the pepper tree-lined streets.
The ground in the affluent neighbourhood has been shifting for decades, usually about a manageable foot a year. Now it’s moving that amount a week, as two years of heavy rains accelerated the shift, causing irreparable damage to some homes and prompting California to declare a state of emergency.

[RTH10260]

Landslides are wreaking havoc on this California city. Locals vow to stay

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0496gdg209o

The ground in the affluent neighbourhood has been shifting for decades, usually about a manageable foot a year. Now it’s moving that amount a week, as two years of heavy rains accelerated the shift, causing irreparable damage to some homes and prompting California to declare a state of emergency.

I guess this is the mountain equivalent to building in flood planes ...

In our alpine areas the equivalent was to build into the rare but known avalanche path

[Volkonski]

Rancho Palos Verde is the location of the famous Lloyd Wright building the Wayfarers Chapel. It is a National Historic Landmark.

https://www.wayfarerschapel.org/

My late younger brother was a Swedenborgian minister. He was the minister at the Wayfarers Chapel during the late 1980s and early 1990s. The Chapel, whose walls are all glass, was beautiful overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It was a popular wedding venue for Hollywood's glitterati.

After the death of our stepfather our mother moved from Florida to California and lived with my brother and his family. We visited them that first Christmas there. Even then land movement was a problem. There were some cracks in the glass. Some of the nearby roads were cracked.

After her death our mother's ashes were scattered there.

Because of all the recent news about landslides there I checked on the status of the Chapel. Not Good.

Chapel & Grounds Are Closed
NO PUBLIC ACCESS ALLOWED ON PREMISES
Wayfarers Chapel management announced plans to move forward with disassembly of the iconic structure to save it from landslide destruction. Currently, Wayfarers Chapel and the surrounding grounds are closed due to the momentum of local land movement. The Portuguese Bend landslide has accelerated at an unprecedented rate and is dramatically impacting the Wayfarers Chapel campus and surrounding area.

It has been determined that the immediate deconstruction of the chapel is the safest and most viable preservation action to take at this time and will prevent further irreparable damage to the chapel’s structure and materials. The team will begin the careful disassembly of the chapel, which includes cataloguing and documenting each piece, preserving as much of the chapel’s original materials as practicable, and relocating all component parts to a temporary safe location until they can be reassembled. Simultaneously, the team will evaluate options for reconstruction on this site or one nearby. The Wayfarers community is committed to preserving the historic chapel and giving it a resilient future.

“The accelerating destruction of Wayfarers Chapel by the Portuguese Bend landslide complex is a looming tragedy felt by many. Our hearts go out to our many neighbors whose homes are threatened.” Dan Burchett, Executive Director continued, “Wayfarers is committed to preserving our iconic chapel exactly as it has always been, either on the current site or a similar site close by in Rancho Palos Verdes. We are taking immediate action to carefully disassemble the chapel’s historic materials as a necessary step in the preservation of the chapel for generations to come.”

“Wayfarers Chapel has been a treasured part of our community for generations. The City of Rancho Palos Verdes is committed to working with Wayfarers Chapel to ensure it can be quickly rebuilt on a geologically safe location somewhere within the city, if possible. We are pleased that Wayfarers is working with the National Park Service and the preservation experts at Architectural Resources Group to ensure the chapel will be preserved according to the highest standards for historic preservation,” stated Mayor John Cruikshank.

The movement on the site to date has caused damage to the metal framing in both the walls and ceiling causing it to torque and bend; most of the glass panels have fractured; many doors are no longer operable; the concrete floor has heavily cracked; and even the cornerstone laid in 1949 has a long crack through it. In addition, services underground including electricity, water, sewer, and gas utilities are broken and currently unusable. The chapel will not be able to withstand much more damage before it becomes impossible to preserve.

“So many of the chapel’s original materials that were part of the Lloyd Wright design cannot be replicated today: the old growth redwood glulam, the blue roof tiles, the elegant network of steel that holds the windows together. With each passing day, more of this material is lost or irreparably damaged. Our team is working against the clock to document and move these building components to safety so that they can be put back together again,” said Katie Horak, Principal of Architectural Resources Group.

Now it is gone.

[northland10]

I am glad they are trying to sign save enough to rebuild it elsewhere. Sadly, it will never be the same because FLW designs so often are designed to flow organically from their location. It is not just some ugly box plopped in a lovely area but an extension of the existing landscape. It is one of the reasons i like his work.

[Volkonski]

The location was a big part of the Chapel's appeal because of the clear glass walls. From inside the Chapel you saw the trees and a stunning vista over the ocean. From the outside you could see into the Chapel from every vantage point.

I can't imagine it in another location.

[Slim Cognito]

It's most unfortunate, but disassembling it to preserve it beats the alternative.

[Slim Cognito]

Did I mention to you guys that I now live by a volcano? Three of them actually. They're dormant but they're not extinct. They're called the Three Sisters and they are awesome. There are two more volcanoes to the north. I live just east of the cliffs formed by the lava runoff 200,000 years ago I can see the cliffs from my kitchen window. If I had a decent arm, I could throw a rock and hit them.

[AndyinPA]

I've been there. Cool place!

[p0rtia]

Neat! And very convenient when you want to celebrate Volcano Day!

[chancery]

Rancho Palos Verde is the location of the famous Lloyd Wright building the Wayfarers Chapel. It is a National Historic Landmark.

I was a guest at a wedding at the Wayfarers Chapel, decades ago. Extraordinary place.

[keith]

Wait a minute. 2 years of heavy rainfall?

I thought California was in drought for the last 3 or 4 years.

[Volkonski]

Wait a minute. 2 years of heavy rainfall?

I thought California was in drought for the last 3 or 4 years.

California had a long drought. Last two years coastal California has had unusually heavy rains.

[Estiveo]

Wait a minute. 2 years of heavy rainfall?

I thought California was in drought for the last 3 or 4 years.

California had a long drought. Last two years coastal California has had unusually heavy rains.

Very wet winters, and very hot summers, but climate change is a myth.

[Frater I*I]

Wait a minute. 2 years of heavy rainfall?

I thought California was in drought for the last 3 or 4 years.

California has four seasons, Drought, Fire, Quake, and Flood....

[Estiveo]

Wait a minute. 2 years of heavy rainfall?

I thought California was in drought for the last 3 or 4 years.

California has four seasons, Drought, Fire, Quake, and Flood....

Ackshully, we has 5 seasons: Spring, Summer, Smoke, Shen Yun, and Rain-if-we're-Lucky.

[wavey davey]

Did I mention to you guys that I now live by a volcano? Three of them actually. They're dormant but they're not extinct. They're called the Three Sisters and they are awesome. There are two more volcanoes to the north. I live just east of the cliffs formed by the lava runoff 200,000 years ago I can see the cliffs from my kitchen window. If I had a decent arm, I could throw a rock and hit them.

I just saw them two weeks ago. Very cool. I didn't know about them before.

Wavey Wifey and I were visiting our daughter there. One day we took the tram to the top of the mountain and she pointed out the volcanoes.

I am a bit of a geology geek so I looked up info on the local geology. It is very unusual.

[Slim Cognito]

I've found myself very attached to these dormant volcanoes spiritually. Strong, patient, but DO NOT underestimate them.

Too also we had a couple of very minor earthquakes yesterday. I didn't feel them but my ring doorbell message circle was lighting up like crazy, people just to the north of me felt them. I guess it's not unusual either.

[Dave from down under]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/202 ... /104327900

In short:

In September 2023, earthquake-detection equipment around the world picked up a signal that lasted nine days.

A study today shows the signal was produced by a landslide into a Greenland fjord, which created a 200m-high wave that sloshed back and forth like water in a bathtub.

What's next?

Researchers say similar events could happen again as melting glaciers trigger more ice-related landslides.