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ClimateQuiet 9d · day 13

Scientists identify new 'permafrost detachment slide' landslides in Canada's Northwest Territories

A study finds house-size blocks of frozen ground collapsing in valleys that have been stable for at least 10,000 years, linked to wildfire and warming.

newest coverage 8d agosummary written 12d ago14 pieces44 likes & upvotes1 comments NewswiresMastodonRedditGoogle NewsBluesky

What to know

  • Researchers identified a previously undocumented landslide type, 'permafrost detachment slides,' in Canada's Northwest Territories.
  • The slides involve house-size (up to 33-foot) blocks of frozen ground rather than the typical top-down thaw-to-mud process.
  • Two studied slides, from 2017 and 2018, moved tens of millions of cubic feet of debris each and may be unprecedented in the region over the past 10,000-plus years.
  • The phenomenon is linked to wildfire-related thaw combined with warming temperatures, and researchers warn it could become more common as the climate warms further.

“Typically with permafrost, everything just thaws and melts in a slurry and moves like a mud downslope. But with these large landslides, we found blocks of frozen material in the debris.”

Joseph Young, Study leader, University of Alberta · Live Science ↗ · Oct 25

Joseph Young Study leader, PhD researcher

Scientists identify new 'permafrost detachment slide' landslides in Canada's Northwest Territories
livescience.com

How it unfolded 1 development · click the chart to see its coverage articlesposts

Peak 5 pieces in 3h at Oct 26, 10 AM; 14 pieces over 13 days (6 articles · 8 posts) Oct 26, 10 AM — 5 pieces · 3 articles · 2 posts — Mastodon 3, Google News 1, Newswires 1Oct 26, 1 PM — 1 piece · 1 post — Mastodon 1Oct 26, 4 PM — 2 pieces · 2 posts — Mastodon 1, Reddit 1Oct 26, 7 PM — quietOct 26, 10 PM — quietOct 27, 1 AM — quietOct 27, 4 AM — quietOct 27, 7 AM — quietOct 27, 10 AM — quietOct 27, 1 PM — quietOct 27, 4 PM — quietOct 27, 7 PM — quietOct 27, 10 PM — quietOct 28, 1 AM — quietOct 28, 4 AM — quietOct 28, 7 AM — quietOct 28, 10 AM — quietOct 28, 1 PM — quietOct 28, 4 PM — quietOct 28, 7 PM — quietOct 28, 10 PM — quietOct 29, 1 AM — quietOct 29, 4 AM — quietOct 29, 7 AM — quietOct 29, 10 AM — quietOct 29, 1 PM — quietOct 29, 4 PM — quietOct 29, 7 PM — quietOct 29, 10 PM — quietOct 30, 1 AM — quietOct 30, 4 AM — 3 pieces · 2 articles · 1 post — Mastodon 2, Newswires 1Oct 30, 7 AM — quietOct 30, 10 AM — quietOct 30, 1 PM — quietOct 30, 4 PM — 1 piece · 1 post — Mastodon 1Oct 30, 7 PM — quietOct 30, 10 PM — 1 piece · 1 post — Bluesky 1Oct 31, 1 AM — quietOct 31, 4 AM — quietOct 31, 7 AM — quietOct 31, 10 AM — quietOct 31, 1 PM — quietOct 31, 4 PM — quietOct 31, 7 PM — quietOct 31, 10 PM — quietNov 1, 1 AM — quietNov 1, 3 AM — quietNov 1, 6 AM — quietNov 1, 9 AM — quietNov 1, 12 PM — quietNov 1, 3 PM — quietNov 1, 6 PM — quietNov 1, 9 PM — quietNov 2, 12 AM — quietNov 2, 3 AM — quietNov 2, 6 AM — 1 piece · 1 article — Newswires 1Nov 2, 9 AM — quietNov 2, 12 PM — quietNov 2, 3 PM — quietNov 2, 6 PM — quietNov 2, 9 PM — quietNov 3, 12 AM — quietNov 3, 3 AM — quietNov 3, 6 AM — quietNov 3, 9 AM — quietNov 3, 12 PM — quietNov 3, 3 PM — quietNov 3, 6 PM — quietNov 3, 9 PM — quietNov 4, 12 AM — quietNov 4, 3 AM — quietNov 4, 6 AM — quietNov 4, 9 AM — quietNov 4, 12 PM — quietNov 4, 3 PM — quietNov 4, 6 PM — quietNov 4, 9 PM — quietNov 5, 12 AM — quietNov 5, 3 AM — quietNov 5, 6 AM — quietNov 5, 9 AM — quietNov 5, 12 PM — quietNov 5, 3 PM — quietNov 5, 6 PM — quietNov 5, 9 PM — quietNov 6, 12 AM — quietNov 6, 3 AM — quietNov 6, 6 AM — quietNov 6, 9 AM — quietNov 6, 12 PM — quietNov 6, 3 PM — quietNov 6, 6 PM — quietNov 6, 9 PM — quietYesterday, 12 AM — quietYesterday, 3 AM — quietYesterday, 6 AM — quietYesterday, 9 AM — quietYesterday, 12 PM — quietYesterday, 3 PM — quietYesterday, 6 PM — quietYesterday, 9 PM — quietToday, 12 AM — quietToday, 3 AM — quietToday, 6 AM — quietToday, 9 AM — quiet 1
Oct 27Oct 28Oct 29Oct 30Oct 31Nov 1Nov 2Nov 3Nov 4Nov 5Nov 6now · 11:26 AM ET
  1. 1

    Live Science coverage of the study spreads across social platforms

    Stephanie Pappas's Live Science article detailing the findings is republished and shared widely via Mastodon, Flipboard and Reddit accounts on the same day.

    “It has been stable, and then it just flipped a switch, essentially…”
    — Joseph Young, Study leader, University of Alberta · source
    • Snoro@mastodon.social

      # NorthwestTerritories # canada The researchers found that instead of a top-down melting process by which the permafrost thawed to a muddy slurry from above, the slides were instead caused by a combination of fire-related thaw & warming temperatures, leading to cracks near the top of the slopes. These cracks allowed the thaw to penetrate deeper…

      Snoro@mastodon.socialMastodon12d agoview on Mastodon ↗
    1 more of the top 2 · 2 posts in this stretch
    • shonin@c.im

      Part "is," part "could." You can decide how much of this "could" will become "is." >> Strange, catastrophic # landslides are kicking off across the far north https:// grist.org/science/strange-cata strophic-landslides-are-kicking-off-across-the-far-north/ # permafrost # climate

      shonin@c.imMastodon8d agoview on Mastodon ↗
    all of them →
  2. background

    Study identifies new 'permafrost detachment slide' landslide type — Joseph Young and colleagues publish findings in Geophysical Research Letters describing landslides driven by cracks and deep thaw rather than top-down melting, noting the slides have not been seen in the region before and may be unprecedented over the past 10,000-plus years.

  3. background

    Redstone River Valley slide moves 4.5 million cubic meters of debris — A second slide in the Redstone River Valley moved almost 159 million cubic feet (4.5 million cubic meters) of material, leaving a scar three-quarters of a mile long.

  4. background

    Johnson River Valley permafrost slide moves 18 million cubic meters of debris — A large-scale slide in the Johnson River Valley displaced more than 636 million cubic feet (18 million cubic meters) of soil and rock, leaving a scar nearly 2 miles long.

Also covered reported alongside — the timeline has no entry for these yet

  1. 2 outlets Strange, catastrophic landslides are kicking off across the far north

    first by Mastodon, 9d ago · also Grist

  2. 1 outlet House-size blocks of ice are falling from permafrost landslides in Canada

    first by Live Science, 13d ago

    1 more headline

and 1 smaller piece

What people are saying 0 voices from 0 sites · best of 2 · verbatim