After 190 million years of existence, the famous “Double Arch” rock formation in southern Utah has vanished. National park officials have reported the natural sight collapsed on Thursday, 8 August.
“Double Arch”, as the rock formation was called to due to its remarkable shape, towered over Lake Powell in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. Other nicknames for the spot include “Toilet Bowl”, “Crescent Pool” and “Hole in the Roof”. Even though the spot is popular among hikers, no one got injured when the rock came down.
“This event serves as a reminder of our responsibility and need to protect the mineral resources surrounding Lake Powell,” Glen Canyon National Recreation Area superintendent, Michelle Kerns, told the BBC.
According to park officials, the collapse of the natural wonder is probably due to changing water levels and erosion caused by rainfall and wind, which little by little weakened the fine-grained Navajo sandstone, dating from the late Triassic to early Jurassic periods. According to data from NASA, water levels in Lake Powell have been going down steadily since 1999, with global warming to blame. In 2023, water levels reached a historic low and even though they went up again in 2024, the 1999 situation hasn’t been reestablished.
During 2023, 5 million people visited the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, which includes multiple other tourist attractions such as the Horseshoe Bend. Because of those high visitor numbers, Kerns doesn’t rule out that human interventions might have had a hand in the collapse as well.
“These features have a life span that can be influenced or damaged by manmade interventions,” Kerns said in a statement. “While we don’t know what caused this collapse, we will continue to maintain our resource protection efforts on Lake Powell for future generations to enjoy. Please enjoy our resources but leave no trace.”
However, human interventions aside, the ‘Double Arch’ would have probably have sooner or later anyway, according to Jeff Moore, a professor of geology at the University of Utah. “That’s a natural process in the lifespan of an arch. They form through erosional processes, and once formed in small increments and small moments, they enlarge and sculpt. Those that can, by chance of luck, form into these strong lintels, they survive a longer time than those that form into a less strong geometry. The arch would have collapsed anyway, at some time. Did it collapse earlier because of these human activities? Probably. But how much earlier? I don’t know”, he told USA Today.
