A two-mile-long fissure has spontaneously opened up in one of America’s most barren deserts, and geologists say it will more than likely continue to grow.
Situated in Pinal County, Arizona, between Casa Grande and Tucson, the crack was recently revealed in all its enormity by a flyover from an Arizona Geological Survey drone.
The recent footage shows a huge gash splitting the earth, as the people walking alongside its edge look like ants in the face of its breadth.
The crack is shallow in the north while extending down tens of feet into the ground in the south. This disparity is because the northern part of the break is older and partially filled in, according to Joseph Cook, a geologist with the Arizona Geological Survey (AZGS).
“Some areas are about 10 feet [3 meters] across and up to 25-30 feet [7.5 to 9 m] deep (tapering crack, narrowing with depth), while others are a narrow surface crack less than an inch across,” Cook told Live Science. “These narrow sections sometimes have open voids underground, so a collapse of the overlying material is possible — this is how the deep open portions of the fissure formed.”
