So What Can Do This?

So I was looking at google Earth and I happen to just like be looking at some wooded area and I was wondering. Do we cut down all these trees and leave them or what actually causes so many trees to fall like this? I cant place the image but I can give coordinates on google Earth?

46.4884181 -115.4386437

a reply to: ExCloud

Just looks like a natural clearing... swamp land maybe?

a reply to: ExCloud
That is weird! No roads leading to it. There are still a bunch of trees standing (the black lines are shadows of tree still up but dead). Possible geothermal, volcanic? Seems to be spreading northward as well. Im interested now to see what the cause is!

I think I found a possible answer: root disease and pests!
Forest disease and pest

a reply to: ExCloud

There are many potential reasons:

Bug infestations.
Disease.
Earthquakes.
Drought.
Choking out by undergrowth.
and potentially human interaction.

The image I viewed was pretty pixelated so I do not have a specific answer, but I believe I can rule a few things out:
Human interaction- no close roads or access points so unlikely.
Drought- The area is still green so unlikely.
Bug infestations- This is specific to this one area so it's unlikely as bugs would continue to spread.

a reply to: ExCloud

There's more.
46.3786754, -115.5505491


Notice how it's not to far from your mark.

This is what logging looks like, notice the checkered pattern.



I was just watching "What on Earth" a couple nights ago and a geologist was exploring the same phenomenon. Turns out that though safe to breathe standing at such a place, gathered soil samples. The ground was extremely concentrated with sulfer bits of methane... Volcanic.

Or it could be beaver.

a reply to: Bigburgh

My Google Earth doesn’t show the clearing .

At the location there are a lot of trees that have died and fallen over .

Combine that with the name of the creek nearby “ flame creek “ .

I would say sulfur is the best bet .

Still looking but I haven’t been able to find a volcano in that area .

a reply to: Fallingdown

Thanks, this looks to me and as what I saw on WHAT ON EARTH, gassing up from below.

Edit: where the trees have died, there is what looks like green grass... not a lot. It's not to far off from Yellowstone.

If anyone is capable of backtracking Google images. It would really help.

Looks like a bunch of pine trees went brown and died before others...



Edit: also very possible.

originally posted by: ExCloud
So I was looking at google Earth and I happen to just like be looking at some wooded area and I was wondering. Do we cut down all these trees and leave them or what actually causes so many trees to fall like this? I cant place the image but I can give coordinates on google Earth?

46.4884181 -115.4386437

That's pretty wild looking in Google Earth.

a reply to: Alchemst7

We live in a large native forest here in Australia, for the first time lots of our trees are dying not from pests, but rather the heat, this summer and the on going drought, it has been said that the large American coal mine and Chinese coal mine in the area have sucked up all the water that is in the ground for many many miles around. What ever it is they are dying, looking a lot like a bush fire has gone through the area which it has not. Just lots of trees dying. Perhaps climate change is happening, what ever is causing it welcome to the new dust bowl.

a reply to: Bigburgh

Two things I just noticed . It looks like the root system failed which will cause a tree to topple over . I can’t find any insect that would cause that. But there’s a site here explains even minor disturbance in the soil can kill the roots.

Now look at the ground in that area. In the earlier picture there are some areas that are a yellowish color and look like mud. In the current picture everything looks like mud . If I had to take a second guess.

I say some kind of water event started the erosion process which disturbed the roots . As the trees died it became a larger drainage issue that cascaded .

That’s what I’m going with unless someone can find a bug that attacks the roots .

Why do pine trees fall over

a reply to: Fallingdown

So we have a need for water.. you, me, trees.. everything unless you're an extremophile.

Tree borers are a group of insects that lay their eggs on or inside of trees, where the young larvae eat their way through living tissues. ... Tree borer insects cause affected parts of trees to slowly weaken as their chewing severs vital transport tissues

Yes root rot is a thing.

I say some kind of water event started the erosion process which disturbed the roots . As the trees eroded it became a larger drainage issue that cascaded .

Cascade is a great word. Pile on from there.

Your link..(And thanks it's good info)

Pine trees + shallow soil = no depth for stability

Pine trees also need deep soil to sink its roots into for stability. A pine tree’s root system can extend away from the tree at a distance as much as twice the height of the tree. (U.S. Department of Agriculture) Pines, notably Ponderosa pines, tend to have a deep tap root with a much shallower (12″ inches or shallower from the ground surface level) root system. The shallower roots follow cracks and water spots for the pine to quench its thirst.

It does not look like the typical human land clearing to me. Your input is keen .

a reply to: Bigburgh

Thing that’s not fun about threads like this .

Is will never know for sure.

Pine beetles and wind after the trees are dead.All too common in the areas infected by those little bastards

a reply to: Akragon

It's not forestry activity I can recognize. They don't leave whole logs laying around like that. It's not in swampland on top of a mountain.
What my first impression is that it may possibly be kill off due to bug or beetle infestation. Pine beetles here in the south would produce something similar to this.

a reply to: Fallingdown

I'm convinced it's bug infestation. I remember hearing of bug infestations in the northern regions because of warmer than average temperatures in the those northern latitudes.

google 'tunguska'
air blast of unknown origin knocked a zillion trees over
reminds me a bit of that

if it was an air blast the trees would be down in a circular pattern away from the blast. haven't seen area around it.

Might be a landslide from above.

In winter, ice can form in cracks in rocks, it expands when it freezes. It will push ton boulders with no problem (we have nettings along parts of the road system around here just for that purpose. And we still have traffic stoppages due to rock falling on the highway!)

My other thought was "avalanche field" as the face seems to funnel into that area. Come spring, the smaller branches fall off and the logs lay there in a jumble.

Those are my two thoughts from the land of big mountains and snow where it is a common occurrence for either to happen!

originally posted by: Fallingdown
a reply to: Bigburgh

Two things I just noticed . It looks like the root system failed which will cause a tree to topple over . I can’t find any insect that would cause that. But there’s a site here explains even minor disturbance in the soil can kill the roots.

Now look at the ground in that area. In the earlier picture there are some areas that are a yellowish color and look like mud. In the current picture everything looks like mud . If I had to take a second guess.

I say some kind of water event started the erosion process which disturbed the roots . As the trees died it became a larger drainage issue that cascaded .

That’s what I’m going with unless someone can find a bug that attacks the roots .

Why do pine trees fall over

There was a Pine bug of some kind that wiped out a bunch of trees in the east a few years back. I can't remember if it was white pine or Yellow Pine.

here is an article on the ones around the location of the tree damage
www.nationalgeographic.com...