Marcus Landslide Trail
The McDowell Mountains, 20 miles northeast of the Phoenix metro area, are home to one of Arizona’s largest landslides. About 500,000 years ago, a portion of the east-central summit of the McDowell Mountains suddenly collapsed into a catastrophic rock avalanche.
The chaotic mix of 5.5 million cubic meters of granite rock, vegetation and soil flowed eastward for 1.5-kilometers (about 1 mile) before coming to rest. The resulting debris-flow deposit – the Marcus Landslide -- is 500-meters wide (1,650 feet), 1,200-m long (nearly 4,000 ft), and stands 30 meters (100 ft) above the valley floor. The Marcus Landslide is a stark reminder that landslide hazards are present in the mountains of the American Southwest.
To read more:
azgs.arizona.edu/landslides-debris-flows/marcus-landslide
Marcus Landslide Trail
The McDowell Mountains, 20 miles northeast of the Phoenix metro area, are home to one of Arizona’s largest landslides. About 500,000 years ago, a portion of the east-central summit of the McDowell Mountains suddenly collapsed into a catastrophic rock avalanche.
The chaotic mix of 5.5 million cubic meters of granite rock, vegetation and soil flowed eastward for 1.5-kilometers (about 1 mile) before coming to rest. The resulting debris-flow deposit – the Marcus Landslide -- is 500-meters wide (1,650 feet), 1,200-m long (nearly 4,000 ft), and stands 30 meters (100 ft) above the valley floor. The Marcus Landslide is a stark reminder that landslide hazards are present in the mountains of the American Southwest.
To read more:
azgs.arizona.edu/landslides-debris-flows/marcus-landslide