# Which Natural Formations Have Fallen Apart Naturally In The Last ~100 Years? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 21, 2021, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-natural-formations-have-fallen-apart-naturally-in-the-last-100-years/942620 "2021-05-21T13:17:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2021, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-natural-formations-have-fallen-apart-naturally-in-the-last-100-years/942620/41 "2021-05-23T00:41:19Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > No, just a lot of arch enemies… Gravity sucks ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2021, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-natural-formations-have-fallen-apart-naturally-in-the-last-100-years/942620/42 "2021-05-23T08:28:37Z")
> **[Cabo San Lucas arch at risk of collapse](https://sanmigueltimes.com/2019/06/cabo-san-lucas-arch-at-risk-of-collapse/)** > > Experts don’t know the exact amount of time the iconic arch will stand. CABO SAN LUCAS Mexico (EFE) – If you have never been to Cabo, to admire the iconic arch, you should hurry since the “Arch of the End of the World” as it is known, is at risk of... Probably the next famous arch to go. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2021, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-natural-formations-have-fallen-apart-naturally-in-the-last-100-years/942620/43 "2021-05-24T07:29:00Z")
I know of at least one spot near here where the sea has broken through a rock formation to create a tunnel or hole. I guess they may eventually be more arch like as the hole gets bigger. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2021, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-natural-formations-have-fallen-apart-naturally-in-the-last-100-years/942620/44 "2021-05-27T16:21:24Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > In Calaveras Big Trees State Park in California, the [Tunnel Tree fell over in a storm](https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/01/09/508919216/iconic-sequoia-tunnel-tree-brought-down-by-california-storm) not too long ago. There are photos of people and the tree from the 1800s. I have photos of my family walking thru the tree as well. ☹ In hindsight, removing 3/4 of the support for a massively heavy giant tree was bound to lead to problems. ---
**Author:** ![Precambrianmollusc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/precambrianmollusc/32/63_2.png) [@Precambrianmollusc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Precambrianmollusc)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2021, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-natural-formations-have-fallen-apart-naturally-in-the-last-100-years/942620/45 "2021-05-27T16:35:36Z")
The Perito Moreno glacier in Argentina has an ice dam that collapses on a one to ten year basis. It is quite spectacular when it goes. > **[Perito Moreno Glacier](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perito_Moreno_Glacier)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > The Perito Moreno Glacier (Spanish: Glaciar Perito Moreno) is a glacier located in Los Glaciares National Park in southwest Santa Cruz Province, Argentina. It is one of the most important tourist attractions in the Argentine Patagonia. > The 250 km2 (97 sq mi) ice formation, 30 km (19 mi) in length, is one of 48 glaciers fed by the Southern Patagonian Ice Field located in the Andes system shared with Chile which has a small part of the origins of... ---
**Author:** ![sbright33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e8cbc/32.png) [@sbright33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sbright33)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2021, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-natural-formations-have-fallen-apart-naturally-in-the-last-100-years/942620/46 "2021-05-27T16:43:02Z")
Lizards mouth in Santa Barbara collapsed years ago. A small part of his mouth which totally changes the appearance. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2021, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-natural-formations-have-fallen-apart-naturally-in-the-last-100-years/942620/47 "2021-05-27T18:30:50Z")
That’s what I was thinking. New arches should be forming as fast as the old ones are collapsing, but it’s obviously not as dramatic when a small hole gets eroded through a rock wall. Do places with these kinds of natural monuments (like Arches National Park) point out the locations that are in the process of forming new arches? ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2021, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-natural-formations-have-fallen-apart-naturally-in-the-last-100-years/942620/48 "2021-05-27T19:42:11Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > locations that are in the process of forming new arches? I took this photo of an embryonic arch a few weeks ago in Fish Canyon, Utah. [[Album] Fish Canyon arch ![](https://i.imgur.com/nyheRYq.jpeg?fb "Fish Canyon arch") ](https://imgur.com/a/2xg7UU5) I think the concavity was originally eroded out by flooding down the bed of the canyon when the bed of the canyon was much higher, at the level of the arch. A crack has developed into a clear gap behind, so even without any differential hardness of rock you can see that water will flow down behind and probably continue to erode away the rock at the back while the arched part remains. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2021, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-natural-formations-have-fallen-apart-naturally-in-the-last-100-years/942620/49 "2021-05-27T20:09:02Z")
A big one that I just thought of – the Paradise Ice Caves (and similar such ice caves) the Paradise Ice Caves were caves formed by runoff from the Paradise Glacier on Mount Ranier in Washington State. The caves were complex and interconnected and ran for miles. They were particularly beautiful because light filtering in from the outside was colored a wonderful blue by scattering within the ice > **[Extinct Paradise Ice Caves, Mt Rainier, Washington Stock Photo - Alamy](https://www.alamy.com/extinct-paradise-ice-caves-mt-rainier-washington-image62697414.html)** > > Download this stock image: Extinct Paradise Ice Caves, Mt Rainier, Washington - DJ035A from Alamy's library of millions of high resolution stock photos, illustrations and vectors. > **[Melting Paradise Ice Cave by Tracy Knauer](https://fineartamerica.com/featured/-melting-paradise-ice-cave-tracy-knauer.html)** > > Melting Paradise Ice Cave Photograph by Tracy Knauer > **[Sustainability - Mount Rainier National Park (U.S. National Park Service) |...](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/565201821961186438/)** > > Aug 12, 2017 - This Pin was discovered by Colleen Marshall. Discover (and save!) your own Pins on Pinterest > **[Paradise Ice Caves](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise_Ice_Caves)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > The Paradise Ice Caves (also known as the Paradise Glacier Caves) were a system of interconnected glacier caves located within Mount Rainier's Paradise Glacier in the United States. These glacier caves were visited and documented at least as early as 1908. They have a varied natural history, as their size and even existence has changed over time, from a maximum surveyed length of 13.25 kilometers in 1978, to not existing at all during both the 1... When I visited in 1989 I had to hike for miles over the snow (even in the summer) from the Paradise Lodge. I gather that, at one time, the caves came almost down to the lodge. It only took a few years after i saw them until they no longer existed at all. The Paradise Glacier melted so much that they disappeared. > **[Paradise Glacier Ice Caves Lost](https://glacierchange.wordpress.com/2010/04/29/paradise-glacier-ice-caves-lost/)** > > From the 1930’s through the early 1980’s Paradise Glacier’s ice caves were world famous. Today they are gone. In 1906 Paradise Glacier was a single glacier that extended down to a… [http://www.windsox.us/ELDER/HISTORY/ICE\_CAVES.html](http://www.windsox.us/ELDER/HISTORY/ICE_CAVES.html) ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2021, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-natural-formations-have-fallen-apart-naturally-in-the-last-100-years/942620/50 "2021-05-28T11:18:52Z")
The [Pink and White Terraces](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_and_White_Terraces) in New Zealand were thought to have been lost in an 1886 volcanic eruption, but recent searches may have found them intact beneath water and/or earth/lava. They were the most popular attraction in NZ in the mid-1800’s. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-natural-formations-have-fallen-apart-naturally-in-the-last-100-years/942620.md?page=2)