Utah's rock arches whisper their secrets

[Still Waters]

Two new studies from University of Utah researchers show what can be learned from a short seismic checkup of natural rock arches and how erosion sculpts some arches—like the iconic Delicate Arch—into shapes that lend added strength.

A study published in Geophysical Research Letters begins with thorough measurements of vibrations at an arch in Utah, and applies those measurements to glean insights from 17 other arches with minimal scientific equipment required.

The second study, published in Geomorphology, compares the strength of arch shapes, specifically beam-like shapes versus inverted catenary shapes (like Delicate Arch or Rainbow Bridge).

https://phys.org/news/2020-06-utah-arches-secrets.html