Scivillage.com Casual Discussion Science Forum

Wow! That’s crazy. They’re reporting that there were no injuries or fatalities and that only two people were in the cabins when it happened.

I'm so glad nobody was hurt during this. I wonder if they had landslide insurance.

I'd consider it was caused by climate change. I'd assume that far north has a certain amount of permafrost at depth. The sort that would of been responsible for keeping soil/sediment frozen to rock surfaces. If the soil temperature has warmed, (compared to past averages) then the consistency of ice crystallisation would have lessened reducing the bond the soil had with the rock surface. Merged with higher levels of moisture it would give way to landslides in theory.

I do have a bit of a conspiracy theory in regard to radio/mobiles involving the constant output of radio frequency potentially effecting how ice crystals develop. Potentially resulting in a different type of snow, or ice that isn't as thick or rigid as it should be. That of course would require further investigation through experimentation to prove as a hypothesis though.

I heard about big landslides like that in geology class long ago, but never saw video of one happening.

One of the things that cause them is when there's too much rain (Oregon!) and the soil gets saturated.

Another thing that causes them is earthquakes (California!)

Remember that big earthquake in New Zealand a few years ago? It triggered a big landslide and led to a veterinary rescue drama that had the whole world watching. Sometimes you just happen to be in the right place at the right time when the rest of your pasture slides away. (The cows were rescued.)