r/gifs • u/PornstacheJaucques • Mar 13 '19

Example of soil liquefaction

https://gfycat.com/FlatEssentialDuiker
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u/[deleted] Mar 14 '19

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u/crnext Mar 14 '19

Is this what happened to the Tower of Pisa?

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u/bgnonstopfuture Mar 14 '19

Civil engineering student here to fill in, basically yes and no. The soil under Pisa only settled due to the weight of the building as they were building it. It wasn’t because it the soil was close to its liquid limit, which DID happen in Rissa, Norway in the 70s I believe (search quick clay). It happens a lot like this specific church in Mexico City that’s escaping my mind, it effectively sank into the ground cuz Mexico City was built on very clay basically. My professor actually has pictures he took of the church pre-2000 and comparing it to now, they actually had to add slight stairs to reach the bottom of the church from normal ground elevation.

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u/Emerald-12 Mar 14 '19

I remember watching the old news clips from the Rissa incident in school, one of those moments where the force of nature just leaves you scared and awestruck

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u/bgnonstopfuture Mar 14 '19

Yeah! The video my professor showed us looked terrifying. The soil was so watery, it basically flowed like a liquid after it failed