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.
With the numerous borings not hitting anything, I sure hope they double checked that the emergency brake was off and the thing was in “drive”!
Uh-oh. Only one thing explains that. They've hit the force field of a buried ancient spaceship.
Thanks for the link. I'll have a look :-)
Minors and explosives could be a bad combination. Miners might get the rock out of the way, though...
Might be a little ruckus on the other side of the cattle guard over that...
Might be a few expletives unleashed :)
Sounds like they reduced the possible size of whatever it could be.
Ain't no big, monster boulder, it would seem.
Things just aren't what they used to be.
(wasted talent abounds)
“Mystery” solved.
“It’s just a pipe! Mysterious object blocking huge drilling machine boring out new highway below Seattle identified”
Looks like as of yesterday, they still haven’t started drilling again from this obstruction.
If the obstruction were really just a pipe, I think the TBM would have chewed through it without even noticing.
There's a Freeper who posts to these threads who was in charge of building the TBM for the Chunnel project. Even he's stumped by this.
Hughmongous diamond from outer space, deposited a billion years ago, by the Galactic Federation, as a deposit to stake their claim to the planet once a semi-intelligent species arises to find the deposit. I expect they will be showing up soon, to claim their planet. Of course, the democrips and republicants will assist them in swallowing it up, so long as the overlords allow them to remain in power for a few more years while harvesting equipment is put in place beneath our feet.
That picture of the culvert with rattlesnakes. That one you took?
That’s quite something.
That's about as plausible an explanation as anything else we've heard. I mean, these TBMs grind through basalt and granite like butter.
Our resident TBM builder thinks the answer lies in human error of some sort.
I know nothing. The legend has been around for a while: http://www.sodahead.com/living/never-hide-in-a-culvert-during-a-texas-tornado-warning/question-1756007/?link=ibaf&q=&esrc=s#comments
A wrench dropped in the gears perhaps?
Actually, I suspect it is an old ship sunk in the bay that was there before being turned into land. Probably sank through silt and had more silt compacted on top of it.
Makes sense, but it would have to have sunk through 80 feet of muck to be in front of the TBM. Good theory.
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