Thunderous Landslide buries Kamchatka's geyser valley
Pastor Dale Morgan
Thunderous Landslide buries Kamchatka's geyser valley*
MOSCOW, June 4 (AFP) Jun 04, 2007
A powerful landslide Sunday devastated a spectacular geyser valley in
Russia's far eastern peninsula of Kamchatka, with experts due to examine
the site Monday, news agencies reported.
The landslide covered some two thirds of Eurasia's only geyser valley
after two local hills sank down into a mudflow some 1.5 kilometers long
and 200 metres wide (one mile by 650 feet), damming the canyon's
Geysernaya river, according to local emergency situations ministry
officials cited by RIA Novosti.
Experts suggested that the river would not be strong enough to break
through the obstacle and would form a new lake which would flood over
most of the valley's some 90 geysers.
The landslides which "consisted of snow, trees, rocks and mud," also
destroyed geyserites, multicolored mineral formations that take decades
to form and whose "slightest break could change the power and the cycle
of geyser eruptions," officials said.
Some of the valley's more powerful geysers "may break through the
landslide, but the majority of them are most likely lost for ever,"
officials added.
A handful of tourists were safely evacuated from the area, the Russia's
First television channel said Monday, showing footage of forlorn
scientists examining the devastated valley.
The valley, one of the world's five such geyser valleys, was the remote
peninsula's chief attraction since 1991 when it was opened for public
view, bringing in some 3,000 tourists a year.