Patagonian Ice Bridge Collapses In Spectacular Fashion

Patagonian Ice Bridge Collapses In Spectacular Fashion

An arched section of the Perito Moreno Glacier collapsed in front of thousands of awe struck spectators in Argentina earlier today.

Some 3000 tourists had gathered at the site in anticipation of the collapse. The Perito Moreno Glacier, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is located in the Los Glaciares National Park in Argentina. It’s also one of the largest tourist attractions in the country. The massive ice formation is over 30km in length, but the ice arch was a popular destination for sightseers who marveled at the 250m-wide structure. But alas, it is no more.

Dramatic footage shows the ice bridge collapsing from a height of 70m into the river below, causing waves to swell and crash into the glacier.

Experts say the collapse has nothing to do with climate change, and that it’s a natural consequence of physics. According to Archimedes’s principle, the buoyant force exerted on a body immersed in fluid is equal to the weight of the fluid displaced. When that force causes the ice to detach from the shore, water starts to filter through, causing an irreversible breakdown.

[BBC]

Email the author at george@gizmodo.com and follow him @dvorsky.


The Cheapest NBN 50 Plans

It’s the most popular NBN speed in Australia for a reason. Here are the cheapest plans available.

At Gizmodo, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.