Fri, Oct 20th 2023
Geologists and specialists have reconstructed the debris flow near the Grisons mountain village of Brienz. They found that a huge rockfall just outside the village was stopped by softer material.
At first, soft rock slid down in the form of a debris flow during the night of 15 to 16 June, explained geologist Reto Thöny in a statement by the municipality of Albula. Later, rock masses of hard dolomite crashed down with great force in the direction of Brienz. However, they “literally got stuck” in the softer debris flow, Thöny said.
For these findings, the experts examined data from a wide variety of measuring and monitoring systems and TV cameras that had been set up. Because the 1.2 million cubic metres of rock came down in the dark, no one knew the details yet. The spared residents of Brienz GR were now informed on Thursday evening at an information event in neighbouring Tiefencastel.
©Keystone/SDA
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