Zion National Park's Iconic Canyon Shaped By Massive Landslide Thousand Years Ago

The breathtaking view of Utah's Zion National Park owes its beauty to the majestic sweeping valley and the river that cuts through it thanks largely to a massive landslide that happened 4, 800 years ago as revealed in a paper published in the science journal GSA Today.

The study asserts that the landslide caused a voluminous avalanche of a mountainside with speed averaging 112 miles per hour with peaks reaching 180 to 200 miles per hour in just 20 seconds. According to CDA News, about 10.1 billion cubic feet of debris stretched through Iron, Kane, and Washington counties.

"The ancient Zion landslide would cover New York City's Central Park with 275 feet of debris," said senior author Jeff Moore of the University of Utah as quoted by Headlines and Global News. "And you would need 90 times the volume of concrete in Hoover Dam to recreate the mountainside that failed."

The researchers recreated the canyon before the landslide occurred using advanced computer imaging including the top surface of the landslide prior to the erosion. With the aid of modeling systems, the scientists discovered it is likely possible to that such a massive landslide could have sculpted the valley in its present form in just a minute or so. Currently, the height of Sentinel Mountain in Zion National Park is 7, 157ft. As per computer-based visual recreation, the mountain may have stood taller than its height now.

"This catastrophic landslide of massive proportions had two effects," Moore continued as per Science Daily. "One was constructive - creating paradise through cataclysm. More than 3.6 million people last year enjoyed the flat and tranquil valley floor of Zion Canyon, which owes its existence to this landslide. The other aspect is the extreme hazard that a similar event would pose if it happened today."

The landslide hypothesis was first brought up in 1945 but not until several decades later did scientists manage to provide a more detailed description of the massive landslide including the subsequent ones that impacted Zion National Park present-day formation using computer simulations.

Moreover, Moore added that a 380ft-deep lake once existed when the landslide hit the area which lasted for about 700 years before the body of water disappeared. The sediment-covered flat floor of the park was where the ancient lake previously existed.