Another Land Subsidence Event; Landslide in Pittsburgh

A landslide occurred in Pittsburgh early Monday morning that washed debris over railroad tracks, and briefly closed the Duquesne Incline. Officials also closed a restaurant that sits at the top of the landslide zone as a precaution. The landslide took place at what is known as Mount Washington and the slide moved a swath of trees and mud about the size of a football field.

This is just another land subsidence event to add to the many that are taking place, such as the sinkholes becoming all too common. Thank God no one was hurt in this incident. A similar landslide transpired two years ago at a park in St. Paul, MN where two kindergarten age children were killed when swallowed up in the debris. The kids were with a class on a field trip at the park when that slide took place.







Mount Washington landslide closes railroad, incline and restaurant

At a briefing several hours after the slide, Michael Huss, city public safety director, said the ground was still moving in the area.

It was left to engineers and safety officers for the railroad to decide when to resume service, Mr. Huss said. Westbound trains were moving slowly through the area by early afternoon.

As for LeMont, it was to remain closed until engineers from the city and those hired by the restaurant determined it was safe. "We're erring on the side of caution," he said.

The slide was typical in that it involved a failure of weak claystone called "red beds" that were saturated with moisture from recent rainfall, said Bruce Roth, a geotechnical engineer with GAI Consultants Inc., the company brought in by the city to inspect the scene. "That is a common occurrence in Western Pennsylvania," he said.

It's always a "common" experience, so no worries, mate!

I know the exact spot and can tell you it doesn't surprise me. The whole area is built on steep hillsides and inclines.

Interesting.

I am heading out there soon. I will check it out and see if things get worse.

Thanks for the heads up.

Really Rez....I have been following your somewhat frantic posts and think you do have a point to make...but jumping onto the bandwagon
when absolutely normal conditions are causative factors(soil composition etc....weather or other common factors...) does your original thinking a disservice....(like crying wolf whenever a leaf falls on yer nose say....)
More solid science and a little less hype to the very possibly normal natural occurances....
Keep the good work going though...im half convinced you are onto something...
Perhaps a look at land rises over the continent may be a revealing contrast to your current data...

anon72
I know the exact spot and can tell you it doesn't surprise me. The whole area is built on steep hillsides and inclines.

Interesting.

I am heading out there soon. I will check it out and see if things get worse.

Thanks for the heads up.

Your right! I am actually shocked that there are not many more of these incidents in the Burgh! On the many times I have driven thru the area, it amazes me the amount of old houses just perched on the edge of hillsides and cliffs!

If ya stop in at Club Ed, throw a single for me!

Pennsylvania seems pretty unstable. Here are a couple more sinkhole events in PA the past couple days.

There are couple of cities in PA that are having ongoing problems with sinkholes like in Harrisburg where they continue to blame it on infrastructure, but IMO that's not the problem. The problem is that the earth's crust is moving in the region a little more than in other areas and that's whats causing the infrastructure problems, not aging.

Sinkholes continue to plague Palmyra

With April showers and the spring thaw, sinkholes are starting to open again around Palmyra.

On Monday, borough crews worked on filling a new sinkhole that was reported during the weekend in an alley along the 300 block of East Cherry Street between South Harrison and South Grant streets. Crews also were patching a sinkhole about two feet in diameter that reopened on South Grant Street on Friday, according to a borough official.

The latest sinkhole was reported Sunday in an alley next to 320 E. Cherry St., borough manager Roger Powl said. He believes it may be connected to a sinkhole that opened on that property at the rear of the house two or three weeks ago.

"It's probably the same hole. It's just getting larger," he said. "It's about the diameter of a basketball."

In October, three large sinkholes opened in the same block of East Cherry Street between the alley and South Grant Street, forcing the evacuation of several families. Residents have been concerned that sinkholes will migrate.

Sinkhole in Derry Township

Here are a few links about the ongoing sinkhole problems in Harrisburg

Crews work on massive sinkhole

Sinkhole problems persist; force evacuations on fourth street

This city of Harrisburg is literally sinking. There are many more stories about just this year's holes which have forced evacuations of seven homes but the problems started two years ago. Here is a story from early last year that says there were 41 sinkholes and the city is bankrupt and couldn't fix them

Bankrupt Harrisburg can't fix 41 sinkholes

They've also had recent earthquake activity in PA as well. Here was a quake that hit near the PA/OH border in early March.

Earthquake hits near PA OH border

A 2.8 magnitude earthquake originated about eight miles west of New Castle, PA and about eight miles southeast of Youngstown around 2:26 a.m.
WJW/Fox8 reports that residents were quick to call 911, many suspecting an intruder caused the house to shake.
“I don’t know if someone’s trying to break in or what. I have three children in here,” one woman told a 911 dispatcher.
Dispatchers tried to determine what happened by asking the callers if they heard other noises or saw flashes of light.

This isn't too far from Pittsburgh. Also, they had 11 earthquakes over the previous year there with one of them being a 4.0 that was felt from Cleveland to Pittsburgh.

Lancaster, PA had a 1.8 earlier this year, but otherwise, most quakes this year have occurred north of PA in NY and quite a few earthquakes are happening in Ohio.

Jeezuz Rez....look at the soil compo in the big sinkhole.....theres not one rock even visible.....it looks like water could burrow through it like a knife through butter.....
Your own pic makes your alarum a bit premature.....
again I challenge you to check out land rising as an adjunct to your observations....but just ignore me im not exactly in the Mensa brigade..
but I have spent most of my life in an area that suffers much landslip itself....

seeker1963

anon72
I know the exact spot and can tell you it doesn't surprise me. The whole area is built on steep hillsides and inclines.

Interesting.

I am heading out there soon. I will check it out and see if things get worse.

Thanks for the heads up.

Your right! I am actually shocked that there are not many more of these incidents in the Burgh! On the many times I have driven thru the area, it amazes me the amount of old houses just perched on the edge of hillsides and cliffs!

If ya stop in at Club Ed, throw a single for me!

I know they've gotten a lot of rain and the heavy rains are going to cause this so it is of concern that they have houses perched right at the top of these hills. That's scary and with the current predictions of a lot heat and rain this year there could be more of these landslides there.

I wonder if years of vibrations from the tracks and the truck traffic from the highway have also contributed to the slide.

Just seems like a typical problem when you build things on steep slopes.

stirling
Jeezuz Rez....look at the soil compo in the big sinkhole.....theres not one rock even visible.....it looks like water could burrow through it like a knife through butter.....
Your own pic makes your alarum a bit premature.....
again I challenge you to check out land rising as an adjunct to your observations....but just ignore me im not exactly in the Mensa brigade..
but I have spent most of my life in an area that suffers much landslip itself....

You're correct Stirling that many events are natural and would have occurred regardless of my theory and I may jump on the horse a little too quickly. But, I'm convinced that I'm correct about my theory and that a high percentage of events are due to the fact that methane and hydrogen sulfide are nearing the tipping point in our atmosphere, causing climate change much quicker than carbon.

I've gathered up so much information over the past 1.5 years that I've just concluded writing a book about it. I finished a couple of weeks ago and it's 130,000 words of information, facts, articles, statistics and just my good old assumptions that we are in trouble soon...if we don't wake the f# up. That may be why I seem "frantic" in your words...because I know time is running out and I feel a strong need to convince people that this is happening. Methane should have the world's attention but we are too busy crying and arguing over carbon and all the wrong reasons.

If you haven't the decency to reply to posts why start a thread......this is bordering on the unstable.......
why so silent
Have you considered the changes in gravity, etc that the fluctuating levels of water have to contribute to the upper mantle there south of the great lakes, and deeply imbedded in the huge lake and aquifer system beneath the eastern USA.....

stirling
If you haven't the decency to reply to posts why start a thread......this is bordering on the unstable.......
why so silent

Have you not the decency to edit your post when you see that I've responded, or at least read back through and see that I have responded. lol, take it easy, man. I'll chat with you. I always respond in my threads, never leave them silent!

but, I am leaving in a few minutes to go outside and enjoy this beautiful balmy 55 degree day here in northern WI. After being cooped up all winter in the most frigid mini-ice age I've ever felt, I'll take mid 50's any day.

reply to post by thesaneone


I am in the same mindset with the occurrence of more and more natural disasters. I am worried locally with the methane shale cracking in the Ohio valley region that includes Pittsburgh but what troubles me more is yellow stone going super volcano.

On Sunday we had a rock/land slide that broke a brand new 12 inch line carrying shale gas, and me without my weenies.

reply to post by Rezlooper


Glad someone's still keeping an eye on this stuff.

F&S&

Rezlooper

seeker1963

anon72
I know the exact spot and can tell you it doesn't surprise me. The whole area is built on steep hillsides and inclines.

Interesting.

I am heading out there soon. I will check it out and see if things get worse.

Thanks for the heads up.

Your right! I am actually shocked that there are not many more of these incidents in the Burgh! On the many times I have driven thru the area, it amazes me the amount of old houses just perched on the edge of hillsides and cliffs!

If ya stop in at Club Ed, throw a single for me!

I know they've gotten a lot of rain and the heavy rains are going to cause this so it is of concern that they have houses perched right at the top of these hills. That's scary and with the current predictions of a lot heat and rain this year there could be more of these landslides there.

Well it wasn't rain. It was snow Evey other day we got. This is not uncommon in this area. Way back when. When they were building the city and roads. They never took flooding, continuous rainy days into account. In fact due to heavy traffic. They widen the roads. Leaving no support. Dumb dumb dumb!
from
Just down the roads from here there is a road called Montour Run. They carved out a 100ft wide and 200 ft high right into a hillside, leading to a drug manufacturers headquarters( Glaxgo Smith Kline ). Considering the hillside wall is at 88 ° angle and 200 ft high within a matter of short time of heavy rains and ice. It started to collapse. After 2 attempts of repair. They finally put in support rods a fencing , then spraying cement over it. It was a success.
See, city planners will take the cheapest attempt first. Then finally breaking the city financially before doing it right. They always have.
Just 3 years ago. Walmart purchased an old hospital. They tore it down not filling in the under ground passages. Again heavy rains and 60 acres of land came sliding down over a 4 lane highway then an additional 180 slide over the train tracks. Needless to say, Walmart now owns a useless piece of hillside that they can not build on.

The other point you probably know. Is the hundreds and hundreds of abandon coal mines. My guess is the Liberty Tunnel. Its leaking water. Someday I feel it will collapse.so as a Pittburgher. My butt will be going around and not through.
Good thread!

batcrapcrazy
reply to post by thesaneone

 

I am in the same mindset with the occurrence of more and more natural disasters. I am worried locally with the methane shale cracking in the Ohio valley region that includes Pittsburgh but what troubles me more is yellow stone going super volcano.

On Sunday we had a rock/land slide that broke a brand new 12 inch line carrying shale gas, and me without my weenies.

I saw that! Btw. I knew for 2 years now. Pittsburgh international agreed to put in 63 wells right under the runways. They are based up next to the Dick's sporting goods headquarters. One line runs all the way over to 911th airlift.
We'll see what happens.

reply to post by Bigburgh


Thanks for adding the geological info about the Pittsburgh area. Good to know when considering these events.

Rezlooper

stirling
If you haven't the decency to reply to posts why start a thread......this is bordering on the unstable.......
why so silent

but, I am leaving in a few minutes to go outside and enjoy this beautiful balmy 55 degree day here in northern WI. After being cooped up all winter in the most frigid mini-ice age I've ever felt, I'll take mid 50's any day.

edit on 9-4-2014 by Rezlooper because: (no reason given)

Lol..keep you dang cold snowy weather..turns into lake affect snow. Thus dumping it here in pittsburgh

Rezlooper
reply to post by Bigburgh

 

Thanks for adding the geological info about the Pittsburgh area. Good to know when considering these events.

You are absolutely welcome
Anytime.

another US landslide. report on yahoo at this link:

Wyoming land slide