Wyoming Crack: Mystery Gash Appears In The Ground At Bighorn Mountains Ranch


A mysterious Wyoming crack was discovered at a remote ranch in the Bighorn Mountains late last month. When a pair of hunting guides first saw the crack, no alarm bells were sounded. But just a few weeks later, the ground has opened up to reveal a massive gash.

SNS Outfitter & Guides owner Sy Gilliland said no one knows what happened to cause the mysterious gash on the Wyoming ranch. During an interview with NBC affiliate KUSA, the hunting guide said that all of a sudden, the big crack in the ground just materialized.

“There it was, this huge slide or crack or whatever it is,” Gilliland added. “I think the reason it’s so fascinating is it’s so big. And it doesn’t make any sense, where it happened it’s just like the ground opened up, and the size of it is just huge.”

The gash in the ground at the Bighorn Mountains ranch is now 50 yards wide and has grown to the length of six football fields, MSN reports. A post on the SNS Facebook page states that the Wyoming ground crack has garnered intense curiosity, and photos of the gash have now been shared more than 10,000 times via social media.

Locals in the rural area have taken to calling the mysterious trench on the Wyoming ranch “the gash,” while others who have become fascinated by the unexplained earth movement simply refer to it as “the crack.” Images from the site show the massive crevasse with large earth towers, boulders, and steep cliffs strewn around the bottom.

The size of the gash has caused intense interest, but so has the speed in which the crack has grown. Some have raised concerns that the crevasse indicates that an underground volcano or undetected earthquake occurred.

Below is an excerpt from the SNS Facebook post regarding the gash in Wyoming.

“Since so many people have commented and asked questions, we wanted to post an update with a little more information. An engineer from Riverton, WY came out to shed a little light on this giant crack in the earth. Apparently, a wet spring lubricated across a cap rock. Then, a small spring on either side caused the bottom to slide out. He estimated 15 to 20 million yards of movement. By range finder, an estimate is 750 yards long and about 50 yards wide.”

Seth Wittke, the Wyoming Geological Survey (WGS) manager of groundwater and geologic hazards and mapping, discounted the underground volcano and earthquake theories.

During an interview with the Powell Tribune, Wittke added, “A number of things trigger them, moisture in the subsurface which causes weakness in soil or geology, and any process that would weaken the bedrock or unstabilize it somehow.”

The gash is multiple stories deep in parts. The crack in the ground in Wyoming is not just a single crevice where the ground broke cleanly into pieces. The trench reportedly boasts multiple levels with “huge steps” in between.

WGS staffers have yet to travel to the crack at the Wyoming ranch to investigate the land movement. After reviewing the case via photos, videos, and reports, WGS pubic information specialist Chamois Anderson warned locals and curious visitors not to approach the gash.

What do you think about the mysterious crack known as “the gash” that opened up on the Wyoming ranch in the Bighorn Mountains?

[Image via Shutterstock.com]

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