Coastal landslide caught on film

When a large crack rang through the air, followed by a rumble, Robert and Chris Wills knew to grab their cameras and start shooting. Chris, a geologist, and his son Robert knew they were in for the show of a life time.

As we were admiring the waves, a crack and the ensuing sound of a waterfall of rocks caught our attention. Everyone on the beach spun to see a small stream of rock flowing down the cliff face below the arch. I never could have expected what happened next. Two minutes later, a few chunks of rock fell from the underside of the arch and I started my camera.
Then the arch started to buckle in on itself and squeeze out rock from beneath it. With this, the collapse of the arch shortly followed and the entire surrounding hillside started to slip off into the ocean in a thundering roar. Boulders the size of a piano crashed into the surf and the sand, sending up a large splash of debris that got me a little nervous. It all lasted less than 10 seconds and left the beach quiet in comparison. T he roar of the surf nothing compared to the thunder of the rockslide.

Stunning Marin beach landslide caught on camera (two galleries), SF Chronicle

(Thanks, Joel!)

Jason Weisberger is Boing Boing's publisher. He often does what he ought, instead of what he should. On instagram and twitter he is @jlw

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http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=673251060 Ryan Brown

Link fail?
- http://boingboing.net/ Jason Weisberger
  
  Fixed. My clumsy paste. Thank you, Ryan.
insert

Working link until Jason fixes it: http://blog.sfgate.com/stienstra/2013/01/08/stunning-marin-beach-landslide-caught-on-camera-two-galleries/
- http://boingboing.net/ Jason Weisberger
  
  Ty.
V

Imma let you finish, but Gary Rosenquist caught the best landslide of all time.

http://gifsoup.com/webroot/animatedgifs1/1701838_o.gif
http://www.facebook.com/scott.m.berry.9 Scott Maurice Berry

Imma let you finish V, but these climbers caught the bestest landslide of all time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=y33STLSFjkE#!
- http://twitter.com/daniloberga Danilo Albergaria
  
  Where was it? Awesome video.
  - freshyill
    
    Switzerland. Also, I’m pretty sure the woman holding the camera has a really thick Schweizerdeutsch accent.
Jim Cromwell

Admittedly that’s QUITE good…! http://youtu.be/ZVjr4mii3cE
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  Why is there always a squealer? In that video, they knew that it was going to happen, and there was still a squealer. Is there some evolutionary explanation for people who repeatedly whoop at disasters?
  - Rich Keller
    
    Yes, the high pitched vocalizations pinpoint their location for the apex predators of the early savanna. It’s a form of altruism, really.
RedShirt77

Where does the stone go?
- http://twitter.com/TimmoWarner Timmo Warner
  
  Away.
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    Yonder?
Kenmrph

Funny, I shot a time-lapse at that very spot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STu9uwd8-5s

(sans landslide, however)
artbyjcm

Wish it was video. The pictures are amazing, but I’d love to see exactly how it crumbled.
cellocgw

I really have to wonder what sort of photographer doesn’t have a digital (or even film) camera capable of at least 5 fps shooting?
- Mark Dow
  
  A geologist and/or glaciologist.