The impressive drop off a cliff over Lake Superior

A user recorded the dramatic moment in than more than 797 Feet of rock at Pictured Rock fell onto one of the great lakes and generated waves of up to 12 feet tall

Photo: Yinan Chen / Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons

A boater on Lake Superior in northern Michigan, captured on video the fall of a large section of a huge cliff crashing into the water on Saturday 26 June.

The piece of the cliff face, consisting of sandstone and earth and measuring around 200 feet, fell on Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

“We could hear the cliff face ‘burst and crack’ and on 54 seconds a section of the cliff of approximately 200 feet wide fell before us ”, said Jahn Martin to WLUC-TV . “The splash and surf were very dramatic.”

“Our trips to Marquette / Munising never disappoint,” added Martin.

The cliff tops at Pictured Rocks are “covered in loose sand and gravel”, according to the website of the National Park Service. “Unsupported cantilevers of soft sandstone are common. Rockfalls along the cliffs occur periodically. ”

WLUC TV reported that the rockfall created waves of approximately 12 to 12 feet tall. No injuries were reported among those in the lake at the time of the rockfall.

Sandstone cliffs, beaches, sand dunes, waterfalls, inland lakes, deep forest, and wild shoreline invite you to visit Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Lake Superior shapes the park’s coastal features and affects all ecosystems, creating a unique landscape to explore.

Susan Reece, Chief Interpretation Officer, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, said that major landslides are rare, and the one before this occurred on Saturday, dates back to 2019, when danger struck too close to kayakers in a similar location, between Miners and Mosquito Beach.

With information from The Hill and NPS