The 'vanishing' hotel - North Yorks EarthCache
The 'vanishing' hotel - North Yorks
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These coordinates will lead to a paved viewpoint on the cliffs looking out over Scarborough, the scene of a dramtic occurence back in 1993, where a clifftop hotel vansihed overnight due to a massive Earthslip. See below for how and why it happened.
On the 5th of June 1993 after a night of heavy rain the Holbeck Hotel slid from its' position on the cliff top right into the sea, 2 days prior cracks had been noticed 70ft apart on the upper paths, this however was disregarded as not serious owing to these cracks appearing regularly on these paths, over the next few days there was more movement in the ground and evntually the hotel succumbed to it's fate, sliding down the bank into the sea within the mudslide which was described as 'rapid flowing porridge' !
So, What are landslides and how do they occur?
Landslides have always existed on our planet. Generally classified as mass movements of rock, debris, and soil down a slope of land. While landslides are a naturally occurring environmental hazard they have recently increased in frequency in certain areas due to human activity. Although there are many different causes of landslides, they all have two things in common. According to Geologist’s “They are the results of the failure of the soil and rock materials that make up the hill-slope and they are driven by gravity."
Natural causes of Landslides:
Earthquakes: Seismic activities have always been a main cause of landslides throughout the world. Any time plate tectonics move the soil that covers them moves with it. When earthquakes occur on areas with steep slopes, many times the soil slips causing landslides. Furthermore, ashen debris flows caused by earthquakes can also trigger mass movement of soil
Heavy Rainfall: When sloped areas become completely saturated by heavy rainfall many times landslides can occur. Without the aid of mechanical root support the soil simply runs off when it contains too much water.
Human causes of Landslides:
Clear Cutting: Method of timber harvesting which completely removes all old growth timber from the area. This method is hazardous because it destroys the existing mechanical root structure in the area
Mining: Mining operations that use blasting techniques often cause other areas that are at the risk of sliding to slide due to vibrations under the soil.
The Scarborough landslip was thought to have been caused by not human contribution, or earthquake, but instead by 'Soil creep' which is common in the area, this is
a mass wasting where waterlogged sediment slowly moves downslope over impermeable material. It can occur in any climate where the ground is saturated by water, obviously on a cliff top location this can be very serious, as proved by the dissapearance of the hotel.
GEOLOGY of the area:
The cliffs in this area are made up of middle and upper ancient rocks capped with boulder clay, the sedimentary rocks visible in the lower parts of the cliffs are formed of the 'grey Scarborough formation below, and above this is comprised of massive laminated cross bedded sandstone of the Moor Grit, the 'Scarborough formation' as mentioned above is formed of Limestone, Sandstone and Shale (in an upward sequence)both of the rock type were deposited here during a period of Marine Incursion and represent deltaic deposits. What happens heer is the boulder clay the caps the other rock types regularly slips (landslip) over the lower cliff and the other types of rock, obscuring them and can be seen here clearly at beach level.
Feel free to include photo's of the slipped earth in your logs.
To claim this Earthcache :
1. please post a photo of either yourself or your GPS at the published coordinates looking towards Scarborough
Please Email me the following info, please do NOT post in your logs for obvious reaons..
2.When we talk about the formation of the cliffs what period in time are the middle and upper rocks from ?
3. How many keys events where there in this period ? the number is fine but feel free to name them if you wish.
Some information is available at the actual site, you will have to do a little research for the other information.
Parking is available right next to the published coordinates, the area is suitable also for wheelchairs, any logs with no photo or relevant info may be deleted without warning, play the game and learn a bit folks :-)
PLEASE NOTE: I receive a very high number of Earthcache emails, I can’t reply to them all otherwise I’d be doing nothing else all day, as has always been the case there is no need to await a reply from me regarding your answers…. However due to numerous people thinking they can just log these caches without emailing any answers, and/or completing the required tasks these will be picked up, and the logs will be deleted without further communication. To facilitate this Please email your information either before, or AT THE SAME TIME OF LOGGING THE CACHE, Thanks.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Purpx gur vasb obneq.
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