Quake Lake In 1959, a magnitude ~7.3 earthquake struck a location known as Hebgen Lake in southweste

Quake LakeIn 1959, a magnitude ~7.3 earthquake struck a location known as Hebgen Lake in southwestern Montana. The area was not heavily populated, but the quake was strong enough that the damage was extensive. 28 people were killed and millions of dollars of property was damaged.These pictures capture one of the most striking impacts of the quake. When it struck, it triggered a huge avalanche in the nearby Madison River Canyon. The Hebgen Lake Quake Slide can be seen in the first photo, the wall of the mountain fell into the bottom of this canyon and blocked it. It tore away any trees on that portion of the slope and deposited almost all the rocks you see in the foreground.That slide created a dam on the Madison River. Behind that dam, water quickly began accumulating, flooding the surroundings to a depth of over 50 meters. Several houses lifted off their foundations and floated away and large areas of forest were drowned, leaving only their trunks sticking out of the water.The dam created a dangerous situation. Loose sediment dams that are overtopped by a river behind them can cause flash floods and debris flows downstream. To prevent the lake from catastrophically breaching the dam, the US Army Corps of Engineers dug a channel through the dam in the weeks following the quake to relieve some of the pressure. That channel fixed the volume of the lake at roughly the level where it remains today.-JBBImage credits: (Creative commons)https://www.flickr.com/photos/tjflex/9522837125https://www.flickr.com/photos/brandonschauer/2837952891https://www.flickr.com/photos/cagrimmett/1090157728Read more:http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/states/events/1959_08_18.php -- source link
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