Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Cool Sinkhole North of Trail Camp

Its mapped as Recess Peak Till on this geologic quad. Personally, I support the Tremors Worm theory.

OK. Good. We have a third opinion. I was really enjoying this thread, but felt like a math geek attending a dissertation/discussion between an English major and an Theatre Arts professor argueing the merits of Shakespeare's "Comedy of Errors". (or vice-versa). You are probably both correct. I wouldn't know. At least you are keeping the tone respective! I think the damn hole is the back side of a tunnel from area 51.

This makes me recall the Shoshone Ice Caves in southern Idaho. Although summer temperatures routinely rise above 100 degrees F, the caves (lava tubes) maintain a floor of ice year round. Before refridgeration, this feature, coupled with the nearby railroad station, made Shoshone popular with travelers as "the only place for hundreds of miles where one could get a cold beer."

This topic is very though provoking. I agree that we can have various theories and opinions. We really can't establish the cause of the subsidence with absolute certainty. An exploratory geotechnical investigation would narrow down the cause of this behavoir but we don't want to see a lot of man-made disturbance up there. The natural disturbances, on the other hand, are really cool though (as long as no one gets hurt).

I am also an engineer, not a geologist. Based on observation of the picture and my 30+ years of construction excavation experience I'll say that the melting ice theory is about as plausible as the "Tremors" monster scenario.

This also inspires me to look up some info. on the relationship between soil depth and temperature.

Alan is right on about the temperature of near surface rock/soils. I have gone down about 1000 - two foot diameter holes up to 211 feet in depth. Once I am past the first few feet, the temperature stays nearly the same. The natural geothermal gradient in the earth is about 30 degrees Centigrade for each kilometer in depth (I did my master's thesis on hot springs). So that is about 1 degree increase for each 100 feet of depth. The geothermal gradient can be higher or lower based of several factors. I have studied Google earth a little closer, and to me it looks like the area of the sink hole could be a terminal of lateral moraine deposit.
It's great to have multiple hypothesis' out there. I wish I could take a trip to view it myself.
Clearly there is too much rock in the area for the giant worms, but what if an alien space ship landed here - did any one check for burn marks. Maybe Moosie was abducted here, which is why we never hear from her.

I think you stumbled across Norman Clyde's wine cellar.

I think it was caused by a wayward rocket aiming for the moon. I took some pictures of it on Saturday; see toward the end of this album.

Just scanning through the board and found this. Extremely cool and weird. I've never seen anything like it. The only thing I can think of is water running underneath somehow and that section subsided (though I like the idea of an old Clyde wine cellar -- but I think he'd just carry it all with him). It's a moraine but no sign of being a rock glacier (melting subsurface ice would be a nice explanation). Also, the immediate area looks to be relatively stable -- no immediate sign of rock slides or an actively settling moraine.

A slight chance it's where a pool of water on top of snow/ice suddenly drained through, eroding it right there. I've seen that happen, but only behind moraines and with fairly large amounts of water. Also, no real sign of water erosion in the hole.

A nice mystery.

g.

Nice tent! The lawn chair adds an "at home" ambience. No fishing pole?

What brand is the tent? Looks like a vinyl version of a Quonset hut and it looks like it can fit at least 4 people easily. Looks sturdy. Please advise on the brand name.

My wife and I have been looking at Yurts, but the prices are a little unbelievable.