Why was this mountain landslide so dangerous? The geologic story behind the May 2024 Yambali slide

[@budgarner3522]

Why knowing the geology is so important before you settle down. Very well done.

[@TheGeoModels]

Thanks! It's unfortunate that this event dropped out of the news, but most of the coverage centered around the number of possible victims. It seemed to me that once that was reduced, attention went elsewhere. The whole island of New Guinea is a tough place, for sure...some post-earthquake slides in 2018 absolutely dwarfed Yambali, and probably did claim victims on the scale initially suggested for this one. Tropical, tectonically-active areas present challenges we don't even think about in east coast US.

[@patricknorton5788]

Absolutely. In Oregon, we have a state online mapping tool called SLIDO (Statewide Landslide Information Database for Oregon). When we were looking to buy a house, we consulted it. In Papua New Guinea, I don't think the average family has such choices open to them.

[@TheGeoModels]

@@patricknorton5788 databases like that are a real asset. I work on one in North Carolina.

[@patricknorton5788]

@TheGeoModels Awesome. I peruse it once in a while for fun, or because I visited some place where I couldn't understand the topography.

[@Dragrath1]

True though it is unfair to blame the people in this area as the circumstances which they live are nothing like what exist within an import driven imperial core nation like the USA. The areas with the "global south" have a long colonial history of exploitation which continues under the economically driven neoimperialism does unfortunately limit where people can live and the amount of information they can readily obtain and that is just the geopolitical side the active geology and tectonics in a tropical climate is a whole other component.

[@hardrocklobsterroll395]

Your drawings are some of the best diagrams I have ever seen, not just in geology. Your art really makes your channel special. I would love to see you work with Shawn Willsey or Myron Cook. I think particularly these geology folks could make the most of your drawing abilities and I would love to hear you chatting with them about your interests and work. Thanks for your efforts

[@TheGeoModels]

Thanks! I drew a lot for my courses when I was teaching at Virginia Tech. Most of those were Pilot Pen or Sharpie line drawings to make PowerPoint animations. I suppose Paint is an upgrade for me! It would be fun to talk to Shawn or Myron...they obviously have the KZbin game figured out! I have to shift between professional work and making stuff here, so I'm pushing it these last few weeks. I do really enjoy the illustration part, so it's pretty easy for it to distract me!

[@garyb6219]

Very clear and interesting. Thanks!

[@TheGeoModels]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@ml.2770]

I really like your hand drawn style.

[@TheGeoModels]

Thanks! I admit I have fun playing around with it!

[@silber724]

I enjoy the way you talk, how you explain things. Topography -- whether composed of sand and stone or ancient buildings that resemble sand and stone -- is very fascinating to me. I'm excited to go through your older content. Those Appalachian field trip videos look especially interesting. Thank you for work. It is highly appreciated.

[@Julian_Wang-pai]

Landscape geology explained really well. And the graphics illustrated it very well 👏🙂

[@TheGeoModels]

Thank you!

[@MorganBrown]

REALLY nice drawing!!!

[@TheGeoModels]

Thanks! I worked hard on that one...I'm no expert in "fair use" of news images, etc., but a few geotech guys did initial blogs on this slide and no one went anywhere near the actual photos. I figured I'd follow suit!

[@vhhawk]

Appreciate you looking at this. Not much solid info available here in the US. Approximate Google Earth view location: 5°22'30.18" S 143°21'52.46" E

[@TheGeoModels]

Tell me about it. Like I told another commenter, it seemed like it went away when they lowered the number of possible victims. I imagine I'll see some professional publications about it at some point, but it's almost just another day at the office in Papua New Guinea. The damming of a river by some 2018 slides is one of the most outrageous things you'll see on Google Earth. I think the flood that occurred when the dam breached caused all sorts of issues. With uplift and erosion in the mountains being as fast as anywhere on Earth, all that eroded stuff has to get downhill to the ocean somehow. That "somehow" is landslides and big floods!

[@vhhawk]

@@TheGeoModels Yessir, absolutely. Living a few months in Thailand made me hungry for more real science from SE Asia. Remarkable places and peoples. This whole thing could have been West Virginia with the same outcome.

[@MyMemphisable]

That is a remarkable rendition of the actual landslide! What a unique combination of Art and Science these videos are! Like Bob Ross and Alfred Wegener merged into one!

[@everything_Burnz]

Your unapologetic and above decent use of Microsoft plate worked with the information conveyed, for me and more than enough for me to give a sub and like to another human doing his best to share information that a person can learn a thing or two from. Keep it coming.

[@TheGeoModels]

Outstanding. Trying to keep em rolling. May get a bit of slowdown here in the near future but I ain't quittin

[@Tuzzie902]

you sir are a microsoft paint master

[@Sshane59-qp6dv]

Very well explained..appreciate it.. they are currently rebuilding the road to go around that mountain.. the road leads to the Porgera gold mine, Enga province. 👍👍🙂

[@TheGeoModels]

Interesting! Will the road go on the south side of the ridge, or will they just build around the toe of the slide? Is that the only significant road to Porgera? It looks like it from Google Earth...

[@Sshane59-qp6dv]

@@TheGeoModels The south side of the ridge, just behind the mountain face that slid... That is the only road to Porgera..

[@hardrocklobsterroll395]

Does the tropical aspect play any significant role in the scale and frequency of these landslides? Has the Appalachian slide you showed been dated to any extent?

[@TheGeoModels]

Absolutely...tropical settings have intense weathering, which weakens rock, and incredible rain, which drives up pore water pressure and weakens it further. Throw in active uplift and big relief, and some earthquakes, and it's an unstable spot to say the least. The App slides are largely undated; some in the region area at least 6,000 years old, but likely much older. In Appalachia, you generally "blame the Pleistocene." That likely works here, so you could be looking at 10,000 years to 2.5 million years. I bet many 10s of thousands of years is reasonable.

[@karenlee161]

What is the orange streak and why did it behave the way it did?

[@waynepickering129]

Maybe if it hadn't all been logged by various foreign countries it may not have happened. It is horrendous what is happening there.

[@TheGeoModels]

Yes, there is a lot to be taken advantage of there, to say the least.

[@Chiamex]

Please explain "a resource rich area."

[@mottthehoople693]

an area with lots of resources that can be easily and cheaply plundered by some bastard multinational company who will bribe the countries politicians

[@TheGeoModels]

Due to the plate tectonic setting, New Guinea has oil and gas and all sorts of metals deposits, including huge copper and gold occurrences that are actively mined . Collision of the island's crustal block with the edge of the Australian continent makes a sedimentary fold-and-thrust belt and foreland basin where the oil and gas are. Past subduction processes leading up to this collision produced igneous intrusions (the "plumbing" of volcanoes) that deposited the copper and gold and whatever else into the surrounding rock. Ultimately, the plate movements and interactions have teamed up to concentrate desirable commodities there. Google the Grasberg gold mine to see one spot.

[@Chiamex]

@@TheGeoModels thank you!!

[@AvanaVana]

Really great channel! Do you do all your sketches and block diagrams yourself? If so, you have a great hand. I am a former architect who turned to earth science, and I appreciate it! I host a project called “The Earth Science Online Video Database” that curates high-quality earth science video content online (yeah…obviously), and I’d love to submit all of your longer-form explanatory videos!

[@TheGeoModels]

Thanks! Yes, I draw them! Usually they are a combination of Paint, Illustrator, PowerPoint, and whatever else has the best tools for the job. They are all illustrations--none are made with any sort of 3-D drafting program like SketchUp. Obviously the ones that aren't made live during a video are a bit more dressed up! Sounds like a cool video project you got going. You got a link to it?

[@youregonnaattackthem]

Excellent video. But....Maryland or Philly Oh?

[@TheGeoModels]

Thanks. What you mean? Accent? Someone thought I was from B-more...

[@youregonnaattackthem]

@@TheGeoModels haha it's very Baltimore. Your videos rock

[@TheGeoModels]

@@youregonnaattackthem that's nuts. I'm a South Carolina guy who spent lots of time in Virginia. I guess I did watch a lot of The Wire back in the day but that's all I got! Glad you like the vids. Going to try to keep them coming. I'll see if I can go undercover in the greatest Chesapeake area sometime.

[@youregonnaattackthem]

@@TheGeoModels excited! Feel free to message me if you ever want to do a WV underground video to see some buried folds

[@nealstradamus]

If the New Madrid fault erupts could that split the Mississippi river in two? thanks I know it's not this video.

[@TheGeoModels]

The 1811-1812 quakes perturbed its flow and sort of caused a shift in its channel. There would never be enough surface rupture to "split" it, as such, but its gradient is so low that it could definitely be temporarily "disturbed." With the volume of the river and the nature of the riverbed, it would probably adjust to the disturbance quickly, but one would see changes for a period for sure. The river will always flow in that general area, and no quake will change that, but subtle effects are quite possible. In a Taiwan quake in 1999 (I think), a good-sized waterfall appeared in a river due to ground rupture from the quake. It's a bedrock streambed in a small river, so the falls will last for a while!

[@nealstradamus]

@@TheGeoModels thank you for the info!