Geologists believe that a huge crack in the Earth, discovered by hunters in a rural area near Ten Sleep in northcentral Wyoming, is the outcome of a landslide, CBS Denver reported.
Since there were no earthquakes reported in the area, locals were at a loss to explain the shift of soil and rocks.
However, it is unlikely that there were any witnesses to the landslide.
The size of the crack is estimated at 750 yards long by 50 yards wide.
Chamois Andersen with the Wyoming State Geological Survey said that she had seen the pictures of the crack. She added that the evidence of the crack being the outcome of a landslide was anecdotal but was not uncommon.
She believed that the slide must have happened gradually, over a week or two.
She said that the geologists in the area say "It appears this may be due to groundwater has created weakness in what is already a saturated hillside. Further saturation like a wet spring and summer leads to more weakness, then the hillside shifted and caused a landslide with an associated large crack."
Seth Wittke, geological manager with the Wyoming Geological Survey in Laramie, explained the event in the Bighorn Mountains as simply a landslide.
"Without getting out there and looking at it, I can't be positive, but from what I've seen on the Internet it looks like a slow-moving landslide," Wittke told GrindTV in a phone interview.
"A lot of landslides are caused by subsurface lubrication by ground moisture or water and things like that, or in this case, a spring."
Randy Becker, a hunter who saw the crack and took some pictures, said,
"I was stunned. The magnitude of this shift in earth is dramatic. It blows you away to see it."
Andersen has advised that people should stay away from the crack, as it is considered to be an active landslide and therefore unsafe.
