Uploaded March 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
The Appalachian Mountains still host plenty of geologic mysteries that really haven't been figured out yet. In southwest Virginia, an enormous landslide stretches 15 miles (25 km) along the side of Sinking Creek Mountain. The landslide may be as much as 500 feet thick, and it consists of huge slabs of sandstone bedrock. This slide zone is the largest landslide feature on the east coast, and no comparable features of a similar scale exist anywhere in Appalachia. We still don't know what caused the landslide or when it happened, but the geologic details of the mountain offer some understanding as to why such a huge mass of material was able to move. Theories range from ancient earthquakes to Ice Age climate conditions, which were (obviously) quite different from today. This video uses LiDAR imagery and Microsoft Paint diagram to illustrate how the slide moved, and offers some thoughts about what the feature represents in terms of Appalachian geology.
The Appalachian Mountains still host plenty of geologic mysteries that really haven't been figured out yet. In southwest Virginia, an enormous landslide stretches 15 miles (25 km) along the side of Sinking Creek Mountain. The landslide may be as much as 500 feet thick, and it consists of huge slabs of sandstone bedrock. This slide zone is the largest landslide feature on the east coast, and no comparable features of a similar scale exist anywhere in Appalachia. We still don't know what caused the landslide or when it happened, but the geologic details of the mountain offer some understanding as to why such a huge mass of material was able to move. Theories range from ancient earthquakes to Ice Age climate conditions, which were (obviously) quite different from today. This video uses LiDAR imagery and Microsoft Paint diagram to illustrate how the slide moved, and offers some thoughts about what the feature represents in terms of Appalachian geology.
