[montag813]

Whatever the cause, the event resulted in a massive rockfall which has blocked the nearby Bureya river, and left several villages at risk of flooding. So much rock was shifted it would fill 13,600 Olympic-sized swimming pools, say experts. Meanwhile, the falling 34 million cubic metres of debris left a gash in a mountain which could swallow up all the water used if every American showered at the same time.

What a strange publication

[Roman_War_Criminal]

Nobody else had posted the bizarre story, I thought I might as well.

It is strange.

[Calvin Locke]

What a strange publication

I took a speech class in college. The comparison technique is most effective when personal relatable/quantifiable objects/experiences/etc. are scaled up or down.

This publication failed to do that. How about showering twice a day for x number of lifetimes, or enough debris to build a multiple or portion of the Great Wall of China on both of the continental US borders?

[steve86]

I thought the observation about Americans taking showers was rather astute. Certainly à propos. Of nothing. What were we talking about?

[Windflier]

"...34 million cubic metres of debris..."

If my arithmetic is correct, that works out to about 918 million cubic feet.

I can't even picture that kind of volume.

[Magnum44]

Yes, I was going to say those are some weird analogies.

[Paul R.]

I thought it a bit strange too. But, the shower comparison is “interesting” anyway.

Various sites say the average US “shower” consumes 17 gallons of water, taking around 8 minutes. That seems a bit high for little kids and the elderly, but, we’ll run with it. I don’t think I get out in 8 minutes sometimes, anyway. :-)

17 gallons = 0.064352000328 cubic meters.

Multiple by 326 million people = 21 million cubic meters.

For comparison, the average flow of the Mississippi River @ Baton Rouge, LA, is 16,800 cu. meters / second. 21 million cu. meters would be, coincidentally, about 21 minutes of Mississippi “flow” @ Baton Rouge. Luckily, we don’t all shower at the same time. (!)

OTOH, this is not a HUGE amount of water. A mere 1000 acre lake averaging 17 ft. deep gets you there.

A better comparison to the mountain collapse, I think, is Mt. Pinatubo’s peak eruption, estimated to have blasted out 5 cubic kilometers of material. That’s 5,000 million cu. meters of material. Some of the pyroclastic flows filled valleys to a depth of 200 meters (660 ft.), with material still at 900 deg. F, five years later.

https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/1997/fs113-97/

President Putin has a problem, but one not nearly so large as the Filipinos faced!

[21twelve]

If we could only get every American to shower at the same time, maybe the thing would turn into a huge vortex of water that would suck in all of the remaining commies.

[cuban leaf]

I want to know how many Rice Crispies boxes the rocks could have filled up. Regular sized box.