Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Natural hazards

Cracking cliffs feel the heat

  • News & Views
  • Published:

From Nature Geoscience

View current issue Submit your manuscript

Rockfall often seems to occur spontaneously without an obvious cause. Monitoring of a granitic cliff reveals that cyclical temperature variations can subtly act to slowly and incrementally damage hard rock until failure is inevitable.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1: A rockfall event from El Capitan in Yosemite Valley, USA, that occurred on 11 October 2010.

TOM EVANS ELCAPREPORT.COM

References

  1. do Amaral Vargas, E. Jr., Velloso, R. Q., Chávez, L. E., Gusmão, L. & Palmeiro do Amaral, C. Rock Mech. Rock Eng. 46, 123–134 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Eberhardt, E., Stead, D. & Coggan, J. S. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 41, 69–87 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Collins, B. D. & Stock, G. M. Nature Geosci. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2686 (2016).

  4. Leith, K., Moore, J. R., Amann, F. & Loew, S. J. Geophys.Res. Earth Surf. 119, 62–81 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Martel, S. J. Geophys. Res. Lett. 33, L01308 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Stock, G. M. et al. Historical Rock Falls in Yosemite National Park, California (1857–2011) (U. S. Geological Survey Data Series 746, 2013); http://pubs.usgs.gov/ds/746/

    Book  Google Scholar 

  7. Gischig, V. S., Moore, J. R., Evans, K. F., Amann, F. & Loew, S. J. Geophys. Res. Earth Surf. 116, F04011 (2011).

    Google Scholar 

  8. Gunzburger, Y., Merrien-Soukatchoff, V. & Guglielmi, Y. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 42, 331–349 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Hasler, A., Gruber, S. & Beutel, J. J. Geophys. Res. 117, F01016 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Luethi, R., Gruber, S. & Ravanel, L. Geogr. Ann. A 97, 753–767 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Valentin S. Gischig is at the Swiss Competence Center for Energy Research (SCCER-SoE), ETH Zurich, CH-8092 Zurich, Switzerland,

    Valentin S. Gischig

Authors
  1. Valentin S. Gischig
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Valentin S. Gischig.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Gischig, V. Cracking cliffs feel the heat. Nature Geosci 9, 344–345 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2698

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2698

  • Springer Nature Limited

This article is cited by

Search

Navigation