The United States Scientists have come up with a precise date as to when the Zion Landslide occurred in the past. The landslide in the region back then had paved the way of the iconic canyon that is currently the home to the Zion National Park. According to the reports, the huge landslide occurred about 4800 years ago. The date comes in after the scientists analysed a few boulders from around the region. The scientists and the researchers working on the details have also reanalysed the sources around the region to confirm the time.

The reports also suggest that the Zion landslide back then might just have contained approximately about 280 million cubic meters of debris. It was possibly that much debris that blocked of the river that flowed in the region and in turn created a lake that stayed there for centuries to come.

Now with the lake gone, the scientists believe that it is the sediments of the water bodies that still remain in the bottom allowing the area to be crossed by foot. The scientists also believe that owing to the acts of corrosion more that 45% of the debris that remained in the area is also gone now.

The research was conducted by Jeff Moore, University of Utah and his colleagues and the reports have been published in the Geological Society of America’s Journal: GSA Today. The researchers were able to determine the time of the Zion landslide by studying the beryllium 10 that was found in many boulders. The radio isotope is formed when space particles with energy hits the silicon and oxygen molecules found in quartz. The researchers are quite certain that the Zion landslide occurred about 4800 years ago owing to the analysis that they did on the Beryllium 10 isotopes. According to Dr. Jeff Moore, “Nine out of 12 of our samples gave an age that was very tightly consistent with this mean age of about 4,800 years”