Iconic stone arch collapses in southern Utah park

[WhiteTara]

Source: AP

ARCHES NATIONAL PARK, Utah (AP) — One of the largest and most photographed arches in Arches National Park has collapsed.

Paul Henderson, the park's chief of interpretation, said Wall Arch collapsed sometime late Monday or early Tuesday.

The arch is along Devils Garden Trail, one of the most popular in the park. For years, the arch has been a favorite stopping point for photographers.

Henderson said the arch was claimed by forces that will eventually destroy others in the park: gravity and erosion.

"They all let go after a while," he said Friday.

Read more: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jJKVQEtp-N1l7AIyKVgxPeB9iaCQD92FBLL80

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http://ap.google.com/media/ALeqM5g9PC9ClzEZNE_BK-gQlg1ZNTZrGg?size=s

[Wilber_Stool]

1. With all of the shit

going down in the world, I feel surprisingly bad about this.

[WhiteTara]

3. ...

I know :hug:

[yardwork]

7. Me too. In fact, my immediate reaction was "This really is the end of the world."

[WhiteTara]

9. that feeling came when the largest ice shelf

collapsed

[yardwork]

23. It's just a rolling end of the world.

[Baclava]

2. OMG! I was just there - I outlasted a rock! - woo-hoo!

Makes my pics golden.

[Turbineguy]

4. The Bush Administration

secretly sold what ever the stuff is that holds rock together.

I demand an investigation!

:evilgrin:

I'm glad we got pictures 5 years ago.

[lutefisk]

31. Mission Accomplished

Better privatize the parks.

:sarcasm: :hi:

[liberal N proud]

5. Example of why we need to protect what is left

Referring to more than Arches, but beaches/ocean sanctuaries, forest and other areas where man has yet to destroy.

Don't let them drill.

[24HRrnr]

13. How do you propse to stop natural forces?

I don't see much human impact in erosion (in a desert) and less in gravity.

Sometimes nature happens.

Deal with it.

God I get tired of the whiney-ass everything is humanity's fault mentality around here.

[liberal N proud]

18. Natural forces is one thing human destruction is another

[drm604]

19. I don't think that he was blaming man for this particular collapse.

His post certainly didn't state that. I think he was simply saying that this highlights how important our remaining natural world is and that, while we can't stop the destructive forces of nature, we need to at least not destroy things ourselves.

In any case, the nastiness of your response was totally uncalled for.

[Historic NY]

6. Damn "Old Man of the Mountain" went now this.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Man_of_the_Mountain

Its a shame but I would say preventative actions by the Park Service could have saved it.
What's next Rushmore? Water and erosion are a constant they can fill cracks and reinforce sections if they had the funds to do so.

[yardwork]

8. I don't feel the same way about Rushmore at all. It's manmade.

I've always thought that Rushmore was a travesty.

[alphafemale]

17. Even the name is a travesty. Let alone carving white faces onto a mountain in the Black Hills.

Rushmore was a lawyer who helped rob the Sioux of their their sacred land.

[depakid]

22. Agreed

Hopefully the crazy horse monument will be completed, tho-

[yardwork]

24. I'd rather a monument to Crazy Horse than white guys, but I still think it's wrong.

Stop carving up mountains.

[The Croquist]

27. I guess that means that you cheered the Tali-ban

when they blew up the Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan right?

[yardwork]

29. What a stupid thing to say.

[WriteDown]

30. Kind of like....

the pyramids, or the great wall of China? Massive amounts of stone that were moved and carved. Mt. Rushmore is an amazing monument to human ingenuity. I wouldn't want another to be constructed, but what's done is done.

[bdab1973]

12. Well that's natural...

Why don't we just slather concrete and rebar on the arches so they'll last unnaturally long? One of the tenets of the NPS is they leave things to mother nature...or are supposed to. Filling in cracks and reinforcing natural geological formations isn't exactly preserving the natural beauty. Like the NPS said, given time, all the arches will collapse, and likely, new ones will form.

[24HRrnr]

15. I started to say that then

saw your post where you said it better.

Good job.

[Tesha]

20. Concrete and rebar? Nahhh! Just use vinyl siding! (NT)

[ms liberty]

10. Just how does one get to be the "chief of interpretation" at a National Park?

And what in the blazes is a "chief of interpretation," anyway?

[notadmblnd]

11. But the big questeion is: Did it amke a sound?

[Richard D]

14. Only . . .

. . . if someone was there to hear it.

[kestrel91316]

16. I have walked the Devil's Garden Trail and seen that arch.

Our family went to Arches NP when it was new, back in the early 70s when I was a kid.

[daleo]

21. This proves God is angry at America

According to Fred Phelpps.

[Odin2005]

25. That's how erosion works, folks.

The notion of the Earth and Nature as static comes from the Abrahamic religions, it is a false notion.



"Ocean basins open and close.
The seas cover the continents and then retreat.
Mountain ranges like the Himalayas and the Andes will be eroded flat.
On a human time-scale not much changes,
but on a geological time scale the whole earth is remodeled,
and everything we have done and made will be destroyed."

--Professor Mike Rampino at NYU.

[galledgoblin]

26. exactly, this isn't a loss people.

these arches never last long. if you see one, you're lucky, because it may not be there the next time you're there.

[DBoon]

28. Destroyes by gravity and erosion

is there a metaphor for American society here?