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4 <br />noticeable normal fault offsets of up to 2 inches. The down-dropped faults were <br />characterized by a strike of N 80° W. Observations continued approximately 800 feet to <br />the southwest, on a broad, flat plain of mud on a topographic saddle located <br />approximately 400 feet south of the "Grand Canyon." A series of thin tension cracks <br />were developed in the mud, with an approximately east-west trend (figure 6). Running <br />water was heard beneath the ground surface neaz the thin cracks. <br />Observations proceeded to the topographically highest point behind the slump, which <br />represents the southernmost extent, and also the head, of the failure area. This azea <br />exhibits characteristics of a rotational slump failure. From previous vantage points on <br />the east side of the failure, the "Grand Canyon' was oriented along a heading of S 70° <br />W. When the head of the failed area was approached from the south, a series of normal <br />faults were encountered. The N 50° W-striking normal faults offset the soil and <br />regolith, exposing fault scarps in soil between 4-5 feet high, and spaced approximately <br />200 feet apart. At this location, the normal faults are parallel to the "Grand Canyon' <br />and located behind it, defining the boundary of rotational failure in the slump azea <br />(figure 7). The "Grand Canyon' represents an arced failure, as defined by its N 70° E <br />trend on the east side of the failure area, and its change in orientation to N 50° W on the <br />southwest side of the failure azea. <br />Observations retreated back to the exposed H seam, and .resumed on the western <br />boundary of the failure area. The boundary was distinctly represented by a transverse <br />ridge of rubble formed by shearing along an interpreted strike-slip fault, separating the <br />area of ground deformed in the failure event from adjacent, undeformed ground. A <br />major haul road entirely contained within the defonned block had been offset along an <br />internal strike-slip fault by approximately 260 feet, as determined with a laser range <br />finder. Additional faulting of the soil and regolith had continued within the prior <br />week, according to mine management, forming chasms with a strike of approximately <br />due north. Lazge blocks within the deformed area remained intact while moving, as <br />evidenced by long portions of the haul road that remained smooth and unbroken. <br />Other portions of the haul road were extensively fractured and bent, indicating <br />significant deformation of underlying soil or rock that propagated to the surface due to <br />the unevenness of the sliding planes (figure 8). <br />DISCUSSIONS <br />Geologists refer to all downslope movements, whether very fast or imperceptibly slow, <br />as "mass wasting." Movement along a cleazly defined plane is referred to as a "slide' <br />and the free sliding of recently detached segments of bedrock on a sloping joint or <br />bedding plane constitutes a "rockslide." Thus, the mass wasting event at the Trapper <br />Mine is interpreted to represent a very large rockslide, in which a sequence of largely <br />intact strata slid down-dip along one or more bedding planes. The head of the rockslide <br />exhibits chazacteristics of a "slump;' which is a form of slide motion in which a mass of <br />