Jahn Martin was visiting Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in the Upper Peninsula when a 200-foot chunk of the cliff suddenly broke off and fell into Lake Superior.
He captured the entire scene on video.
He was on a pontoon with some friends when they heard the wall popping and cracking, he told Mid-Michigan Now. Then, within 60 seconds, the cliff face slid down and crashed into the water.
“We could hear the cliff wall popping and cracking and within 60 seconds a section of cliff approximately 200 feet wide fell before us," Martin told WLUC-TV. "The splash and swell wave were very dramatic.”
Rockfalls can occur for a variety of reasons, ranging from water seeping in between cracks or vegetation growth to earthquakes. Temperature variation and extreme heat can also lead to instability, according to the National Park Service.
The park's website warns that gravel and loose sand can periodically fall along the cliffs, which are 50 to 200 feet above the lake.
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Still, the park service says it is hard to pinpoint a specific trigger for individual rockfalls, including the one Martin witnessed.
There was a similar collapse in 2019, when kayakers on a tour narrowly escaped injury as a large section of cliff crashed into Lake Superior.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Contact Emma Stein at estein@freepress.com
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