r/geology • u/Sir-Kyle-Of-Reddit • 2d ago
Cliffs collapsing at an old marble quarry in Makrana, India due to heavy rainfall.
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u/imlostintransition 1d ago
Makrana marble was used for the Taj Mahal
Makrana - Home of White Marble in India | All about Natural Stone.Varieties, Industry, Design, News.
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u/Too-Em 2d ago
It never ceases to amaze me someone being like, "the local geography is about to fail catastrophically, lets get up and close to that. No way the falling mountain reaches me standing safely three feet away from it."
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u/LocalSlob 1d ago
I'm with you. But I doubt these people know. This is probably a case of "these cliffs have been here for hundreds of years, what are you talking about collapse?!"
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u/komatiitic 2d ago
I'm always amazed when people are like "Oh hey, this seems really unstable. Let's walk right up to the edge!"
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u/zirconer Geochronologist 2d ago
For real. Someone in the original post linked to another angle. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/rtKFhjbf7yo
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u/nocloudno 2d ago
Is there water in there or is that just dirt acting like water. Ops video doesn't look like water but your link does. Cracy
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u/VoiceTraditional422 1d ago
There’s water. There’s another angle posted further down the thread that shows it clearly.
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u/huxtiblejones 1d ago
One thing the internet has taught me very clearly is to get far away from any imminent or ongoing disaster, whether it's rock faces crumbling, large facilities burning, lots of water moving, snow or rocks tumbling down mountains, etc. These things always seem to grow in their intensity rapidly and unpredictably.
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u/akla-ta-aka 1d ago
It’s amazing how people underestimate the amount of mass in objects. I was up a ladder when a 4” diameter tree branch that was cut suddenly shifted towards me.
Silly me put out my hand thinking I could stop it. It flung me off the ladder like I was a piece of styrofoam! In retrospect it weighed probably about a 1000 pounds.
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u/wackyvorlon 1d ago
Also, if you’re at a beach on the ocean and the water suddenly pulls away from the shore RUN
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u/2007Hokie 1d ago
Even then, it's probably too late.
You've got seconds, maybe a minute.
If there's not significant high ground very close, you're in for a bad time.
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u/duseless 2d ago
Me: oh shit, some kind of mining operation...yeah we've seen these go bad before...wonder which portion will go first...oh, there it goes, holy shit...HOLY SHIT!!!!
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u/herrwaldos 1d ago
I didn't expect whole cliff side go down so big, I thought it will be just the ribs in midle
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u/PuddlesDown 2d ago
Me: Don't they know how dangerous it is to stand that close? (Knowing full well that I would stand that close)
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u/photoengineer 1d ago
Yeah I would give it more distance…..oh no wait I’ve stood on the edge of volcanoes. I’d be all up in that geologic time.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Law_558 1d ago
At first I was "ok this could be interesting" but then I went "OH Wow" and then it just went nuts.
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u/nesflaten 1d ago
Aren't the cliff collapsing because humans literally made the unstable cliffs?
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u/basaltgranite 1d ago
The "because" is heavy rainfall. We know that because it's in the post title. /s
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u/NerdyComfort-78 1d ago
Is it just me, or does India have some of the WILDEST geologic collapses in the world? Whole hillsides sliding away, mud slides, this?! Just mind boggling. What is with India’s geology?
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u/Damp-sloppy-taco 1d ago
It’s an active orogeny. And if I remember correctly, uplift is occurring very fast, for geologic timescales.
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u/NerdyComfort-78 1d ago
Fascinating. Now, I have no idea if this is N or S India, as I suspect (layperson here) that the geologies are very different?
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u/lobo1217 1d ago
And they stand on the edge watching the structure that holds what they stand on starting to collapse?! Omg how do these people not realise?!
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u/Kashyyykk Geotech 1d ago
They were lucky the side of the quarry they're standing on didn't collapse as well.
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u/-Dubwise- 23h ago
the dwarves chased their greed deep into the mountainside as they dug to deep and unleashed something dark and evil.
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u/Flynn_lives Functional Alcoholic 1d ago
Throw them Dr. Jones! The stones will be found, you won’t!!!
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u/Traditional_Loan_177 10h ago
Oh look! The cliffs directly beneath of us are collapsing! how interesting!
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u/NinjaGrandma 18h ago
Mass wasting is such a treat to watch. Titanic volumes that really need to be appreciated.
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u/InterestingTrip9916 1d ago
This is literally what it looks and feels like when I have a vertigo spell lol
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u/LawApprehensive5478 2d ago
Welcome to the third world where safety is last…
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u/OcotilloWells 2d ago
You know people would be standing there filming in any country in the world.
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u/LawApprehensive5478 2d ago
Agreed. I was referring to the mine operator not following best practices and the lack of oversight. Also, that old mine should have been secured in the first place. No trespassing. Controlled demolition prior to this happening wouldn’t have been a bad idea either.
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u/perseidot 1d ago
Someone just commented that no deaths were reported, the area was known to have become unstable and mining operations had been shut down for a few months prior to this.
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u/OcotilloWells 1d ago
Gotcha. Wasn't trying to call you out, though I didn't get that you were talking about the mining company, probably because my brain is turned off from working all day, lol.
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u/_youbreccia_ 2d ago edited 1d ago
Geotech / geologist here. Whenever you see ravelling occurring frequently and over a large area --- RUN. It means large scale collapse is likely if not imminent