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Something Called "The Object" Stops World's Largest Tunneling Machine
Gizmodo.com ^ | 20 December 2013 | Geoff Manaugh

Posted on 12/26/2013 5:02:00 PM PST by Windflier

Bertha, the world's largest tunneling machine, churning through the rock and mud beneath Seattle, has hit a mysterious roadblock—so mysterious, it is only known for now as "the object."

The New York Times reports that the machine—300 feet long and 5 stories tall—has ground to a halt. Built precisely not to be stopped by, well, just about anything, Bertha has apparently met her match. But what exactly is it? "Something unknown, engineers say—and all the more intriguing to many residents for being unknown—has blocked the progress of the biggest-diameter tunnel-boring machine in use on the planet," the NYT writes.

It is something the managers on site "still simply refer to as 'the object.'"

Some hypothesize a colossal ice age boulder or two, locked down in the sediments beneath the city. Others think it might be "buried train engines."

Whether it's ice age super-rocks, buried trains, a lost city—or even a UFO—engineers might have to work "at atmospheric pressures similar to what a diver would experience," the New York Times adds, and even spend "time in a decompression chamber" on their way back up to the surface, to find out.

So what is it? What is "the object" blocking Bertha's path? Just look at the size of the tunnels it's been digging; whatever's in the way has got to be one tough mother.



TOPICS: Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: bertha; seattle; tbm; tunnels
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A real curiosity.
1 posted on 12/26/2013 5:02:00 PM PST by Windflier
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To: Windflier

The vault where he’s hid his real birth certificate ?


2 posted on 12/26/2013 5:05:08 PM PST by faithhopecharity
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To: Windflier
engineers might have to work "at atmospheric pressures similar to what a diver would experience," the New York Times adds, and even spend "time in a decompression chamber" on their way back up to the surface, to find out.

How deep is this tunnel? I thought that it was for a road... how are drivers going to get through it if they'll need time in a decompression chamber after driving through?

3 posted on 12/26/2013 5:06:56 PM PST by Cementjungle
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To: Windflier

A real curiosity.


Probably more like a huge underground cavern or fissure

Not much else can stop that machine.


4 posted on 12/26/2013 5:08:30 PM PST by rdcbn
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To: Windflier

What were engineers expecting to bore through? I’d say it’s something the cutters weren’t designed for. If engineers were expecting to bore through sedimentary rock but now find themselves confronted by a dome of igneous rock, that might explain it.


5 posted on 12/26/2013 5:12:20 PM PST by fso301
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To: Cementjungle

https://twitter.com/BerthaDigsSR99

The above is a link to Bertha’s twitter account!

This object was encountered over two weeks ago. The face of the tunnel is about 80 feet deep at the moment, not sure what the greatest depth will be - but would guess 120 feet or more as it goes under a hill. Inside the tunnel it is pressurized. But the workers need to get outside the tunnel to take a look at what is going on.

I’m surprised they didn’t just drill into the area directly in front of the object. Although I guess if they think it is manmade (building support, etc.) they don’t want to damage it. But I think at that depth and in those glacial deposits, that is highly unlikely.

I’m guessing it is a house-sized boulder dropped by a glacier.


6 posted on 12/26/2013 5:12:25 PM PST by 21twelve (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2185147/posts 2013 is 1933 REBORN)
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To: Windflier

I’ve already seen this movie, but I don’t want to spoil the surprise.


7 posted on 12/26/2013 5:13:01 PM PST by Flag_This (Liberalism: Kills countries dead.)
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To: Windflier

Its Obviously an alien space ship that crashed here after it built the Pyramids.


8 posted on 12/26/2013 5:13:16 PM PST by Venturer (Half Staff the Flag of the US for Terrorists.)
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To: Windflier

Will Danny Forster please pick up the white courtesy phone? Danny Forster ...


9 posted on 12/26/2013 5:13:30 PM PST by NonValueAdded (It's not the penalty, it's the lack of coverage on 1 Jan. Think about it.)
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To: Windflier

Could be a dragon disaster.


10 posted on 12/26/2013 5:13:40 PM PST by Rebelbase (Tagline: optional, printed after your name on post)
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To: Windflier

Hmm....My brother lives up that way and he used to be pretty good at plugging the toilet back home.

Just a thought.


11 posted on 12/26/2013 5:13:56 PM PST by Tucsonican
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To: rdcbn

So, maybe they need to bring in the bridge builders to cross the cavern?


12 posted on 12/26/2013 5:14:07 PM PST by freeagle
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To: rdcbn
Probably more like a huge underground cavern or fissure

Good point. An underground cavern might be fatal to the entire bore plan. I talked to a well driller once who said he lost an expensive bit when he drilled down into a cavern, or void of some sort and lost the bit.

13 posted on 12/26/2013 5:15:27 PM PST by fso301
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To: fso301

They are drilling in glacial till. Sands and gravel and clay that have been compacted by the ice to form something very similar to concrete. Although every so often the glacier will drop a huge boulder that it carried down from Canada - so not a dome of igneous rock, but it probably is a huge boulder of igneous (and very hard) rock.


14 posted on 12/26/2013 5:16:30 PM PST by 21twelve (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2185147/posts 2013 is 1933 REBORN)
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To: Windflier

It’s a Spotted Owl nest.


15 posted on 12/26/2013 5:16:44 PM PST by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: Windflier

QUATERMASS AND THE PIT or FIVE MILLION YEARS TO EARTH.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062168/?ref_=nv_sr_1


16 posted on 12/26/2013 5:17:31 PM PST by Ruy Dias de Bivar (Sometimes you need 7+ more ammo. LOTS MORE.)
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To: fso301
What were engineers expecting to bore through? I’d say it’s something the cutters weren’t designed for.

Pure diamond is about the only thing I can think of that could stop Bertha. It'd have to be the biggest damn chunk of diamond the world has ever seen.

17 posted on 12/26/2013 5:17:42 PM PST by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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To: Windflier

How did it get stopped? They needed to sign up Bertha for ObamaCare in order to continue forward and, well, we know how that is going.


18 posted on 12/26/2013 5:18:53 PM PST by llevrok (Obama 2008 : "If you vote for me, you can keep your country")
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To: Cementjungle
How deep is this tunnel? I thought that it was for a road... how are drivers going to get through it if they'll need time in a decompression chamber after driving through?

Consider that the NY Times is the source of that comment.

19 posted on 12/26/2013 5:19:05 PM PST by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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To: Venturer

20 posted on 12/26/2013 5:20:15 PM PST by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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