A Two Mile Crack Has Opened Up In Arizona - And Experts Warn That It’s Only Going To Get Bigger 

My Dad was 86 when he passed 2 years ago. But he told me that these cracks or fissures have been happening all of his life. He was a rancher and farmer with a broad knowledge of the land and where he lived and traveled. He lived in the Gila Valley of NM, and the Sulfur Springs Valley of Arizona his entire life. This is a normal, cyclical thing. They eventually fill up and then new ones start. It has ever been thus.

For the love of god..... how long does it take to explain the reason for a crack in the desert.

I have a Hopi friend who lives out near Second Mesa/Leupp area of the reservation. He says there is a place referred to by his tribe as "The Crack" and it is a big fissure that has been there as long as our old people can recall. Scary thing is that this one is very deep. He says you can throw a rock down it and never hear it land.

The State has decided to name the fissure Plumber's crack.

I saw a crack in northern Arizona that makes this one look like nothing. I understand they're calling it the Grand Canyon. I think it's getting bigger, too. Even more extremely troubling!

The video commentator incorrectly describes a desert as a region with "long, hot summers and mild winters." This is inaccurate. Deserts are only characterized by their lack of rainfall. Many deserts, for example, reside in temperate and even cold regions. The largest desert on earth is Antarctica--a continent that also exhibits the harshest winters on the planet.

By the time that guy gets to the point that will be the edge of the ocean. It's a wonder long winded didn't stir up a dust storm.

Pinal County is not between Tucson and Casa Grande. Casa Grande is in Pinal County. And, these cracks are very common.

The earth is very dynamically and constantly changing. Arizona has had cracks appear in places without any wells or farming within many miles for many years, since before large cities and extensive farming. Being a dry desert area it doesn't take much of a tremor of the earth to crack the soil. The Easter 2010 earthquake in Mexico caused ground motion here in Arizona. That could have caused this fissure. My area in Phoenix is hundreds of feet above the Salt river that flows through Phoenix, yet I can't dig anywhere in my yard without running into many river rocks. The ground was obviously lower here at one time with a large and powerful river. Up north we have the Mogollon Rim, a large uplift more than 2000 feet high forming a plateau that extends some 200 miles. Fossils from a sea floor have been found there, indicating that it was below the ocean at one time more than 4000 feet lower. Man was not to blame for any of it. Climate change has been around for millions of years with cycles of heat and cold. One or 2 large volcanic eruptions can spew enough debris in the atmosphere to cause temperatures to drop to extreme lows for many years. We just need to accept that we live on a dynamic living planet...

Is Arizona's natural way of moving farther away from California

This is a cyclical thing ~ a normal occurrence in the land. The big ones eventually fill up, but smaller fissures form. My uncle, who was a rancher in Arizona for years b4 he died, told me this. He was also a Geology teacher.

A lot of comments here from people who live in, and near this area and understand this is not reported in social media or new information for some. The difference being this phenomenon is new to some countries with huge recent cracks appearing world wide. In addition to huge sinkholes especially here in England, Earthquakes, Volcanic eruptions and coastal water receding. Even large amounts of sea life, all varieties being washed onto shores, all dead. This happened in my town water receded and a mile long sandy beach was covered entirely by dead starfish. This, all of this is not man made and this video is miss leading.

Kevin Bacon says it is probably Tremors.

Between Casa Granda and Tuscon is where limestone from a dissapearing aquafer is blasted to extract and create portland cement. You can feel the ground shake when the blasting starts.

"The blame for it _lays_ squarely ..." No: correct English is - "The blame for it _lies_ squarely ..." This has been a public service announcement.

SKIP TO 4:58 stick around for about 20 seconds and find a better video.

We live in Tucson Arizona. It is odd that this crack has not made news headlines anywhere. Not in Phoenix or Pinal or Pima counties. Most of the underground aquifer water was used up by the mid 90's. That is when Arizona called on the CAP for Colorado River water to be diverted to out state and others which have no potable water. I wonder why the AZGS is so quiet about this? I very much doubt there is any way to stop this process which has probably been going on for over 30 years now.

More important, the loss of water is much more due to the corporation s that are copper mining without regard to the loss of water for farming and normal drinking water.

Would love to go through it with a Metal Detector! Copper, gold, and silver, oh my!

I have land in Pinal County and the fissure is west of my property by about four miles as the crow flies on State Land near Silverbell Estates near the Pinal/Pima County line and near the Ironwood National Monument. The fissure development theory you propose as the Aquifer has dropped due to the long drought in the past which this year seems to be over. The farmers may have caused this fissure by taking too much out of the aquifer before the Colorado River Irrigation into the State of AZ for our farmers. It helps to not only deliver water but acts as a catchment system when it rains. In fact it's raining right now in the desert, and it is beautiful! Nice the drought maybe coming to an end. It time for me to take another hike and see it again since all this rain we've been having in 2018.

I have a place near Florence, which is the "capital" of Pinal County. Small scale versions of these are common in some places. Concrete house slabs now have steel cables through them which are tensioned post pour. They are inside plastic sheaths and are cast in the slab. These keeps the slabs in one piece in case there is a subsidence under the house later.

I thought Arizona had a meth issue, not a crack problem?!

You see a lot of smaller fissures throughout Pinal, Pima, and Maricopa Counties. The irrigation districts take a lot of water out of the ground. Luckily, these cracks are in areas that would never be utilized for any kind of development. It's open space, and that is certainly something Arizona has plenty of - being that only a little over 20 percent of Arizona is actually comprised of privately held land.

The underground aquifer below the Tucson valley has dropped hundreds of feet over the last half century. Avra Valleys wells are nearly tapped dry. The few tropical storms & monsoons cannot effectively replenish the ground. Sinkholes, cracks and depressions are in part explaining these things yet are not entirely conclusive in geographical survey findings.

When I was in the scouts, we used to find these cracks around Casa Grande mountain. Never found one several miles long, but many were several hundred yards and could be 16’ or more deep in areas. We would spend hours exploring and playing in them...that was thirty years ago.

I live in Arizona and never heard of this. I wonder where his facts are coming from. Easy to blame man for anything these days.

Not only is the surface of the land impacted, so are subsurface aquifers. Due to groundwater extraction from the underground materials, the overburden collapsed because the pressure due to ground waters was removed. It is the aquifer(s) that collapsed first in the subsurface. That is how aquifers are impacted, they are damaged now, actually collapsed. So now, much less water can be extracted - the wells are running dry.

To understand why this has occured think of a moist sand pie, you leave it out and not let water go near it for a week or so, if you were to look at it daily you'd notice cracks appear, its caused by lack of water/ moisture, going by the sand pie method.

I have watched the earth subsided over my 25 years living here. Like many states Arizona has been pumping all the ground water out to support the human population. That is what happened to all the surface river water here for irrigation. This is what happened in California and many states that use artisan water.

Praying for the safety, protection and healing of my daughter, her husband and 2 children.

Pinal County is NOT between Casa Grand & Tucson. CG is IN Pinal County,a county that also extends north from CG encompassing the Superstition Mountains & Apache Junction. A next door neighbor to Mesa. Also part of the Phoenix basin.

Arid wasteland? I love how everyone who's never lived or been too Arizona, just assumes we all live in some giant, lifeless, desert, wasteland.... We do have a huge city you know, and forest believe it or not... Haha

The explanation given was exactly what I assumed caused it. This is similar to all the sinkholes in Florida. We're pumping the aquafiers dry.

I called these people up last week and asked to investigate why the wind blows really hard sometimes. I watched a large styrofoam cup get thrown across my front yard like it was nothing. And I'm still having the nightmares!!

In college we learned that the area near Casa Grande has sunk over 50ft because of groundwater pumping. Groundwater is largely unregulated in Arizona but all the surface water is.

So every climate and weather anomaly is man made now? Even cracks in the ground?

Well, this is a start and gives the meaning of that song called, "Ocean Front Property in Arizona" by George Strait. 😆😃...

At 5:00 he stops rambling and tells you what it is.

Water use by Phoenix is killing the plant life in all the surrounding area as far east as Payson and Globe, and dramatic drought this year is adding to the problem. Huge swaths of dead and dying scrub oak, juniper, manzanita, pinyon and ponderosa pine and cottonwood can be seen for hundreds of miles throughout the region, and it's a scary tinderbox right now.

If you view Arazona by airial view it looks as though it were once possibly an ocean or huge lake floor and the water that once had been there may have been rerouted (possibly by man) as it wouldn't be the first time man has thought they knew better than our creators design of this earth. I mean after all look where the Whitehouse sits and look up the lands history. Man thought a huge Sort of White building would look better there than the once beautiful water that once flowed through that land.

I think it’s crazy that they blame the farmers out in the middle of no where when there are golf courses running rampant in AZ, not even considering the swimming pools and the influx of new people.

I can’t wait for 2 grand canyons here. We are just gonna have to wait a few millions years for this one to get to the same depth as the Grand Canyon

Pinal County AZ is 5,374 mi². Ya think someone could provide the coords for this big, scary crack, that after on and off residency in the Sonoran Desert for 44 years, I, nor anyone I know, have never heard of this (or any other, [except the really BIG one north of Flagstaff] 2-mile long crack.) So what are its coordinates? I would love to go see it! Don't do GPS? OK, so how many miles from what closest city or town? In wht direction? Don't know that? OK, what highway to what turnoff, and how far from where I park, and in which direction? Not yet? OK, what exit on I-10 (or I-8 if closer to the crack), and then which state Hwy to the nearest place to hike to the crack? Seven minutes to say, "Hey, look there's a crack in the desert. I am told it is in Pinal County, Arizona, but I don't know where. Cool photo tho', huh?"

we need paul harvey. and the rest of the story.

Wow, a giant crack in the ground in Arizona, never seen that before...

It’s frightening to have learned just how many cracks have been cropping up these past few years-in Africa, New Zealand, Antarctica, and Mexico and other places...and sinkholes are all over the earth, too! It’s extremely troubling...

I lived right on the San Andreas in high desert of palmdale. In 1992 after the landers earthquake I went down to San Bernardino desert and there was a crack about 40 miles long, maybe 20 foot drop, rode our dirt bikes half a day couldn't find the end.....

My wife knows a person who's whole home subdivision is cracking and falling apart because of this problem, the houses were only months old

These cracks and subsidences have actually been going on since the late 80's early 90s. In avira valley and south of old Tucson. Several people lost their properties because of it one road was actually closed. This is just a continuation of that. All from over use of ground water. It was hoped that the salt river project would aleviat this. Many of the farms in avira valley are no longer farmed due to the lack of water

Can you cite the research that determined the cause, please. Sounds like speculation and theory to me.

Arizona is geologically active - they have several small earthquakes every year - this could be caused by earthquake activity, or more likely by subduction - land "sinking" in on itself - losing elevation - creating a bowl-shaped depression - because the groundwater is being pumped out faster than it's being replenished by rain .. this is happening all over Southern Arizona, because there are more people than the desert can support .. Sierra Vista, south-east of Tucson, has been subducting for about 20 years ..

It's probably linked either to Yellowstone or California fissures. So glad I moved from there!

Nearly 5 minutes of round talking. 4:58 for the cause of the crack.

All this rambling could have been shortened to 1 min! Just get to the point! Good grief I had to stop watching! Bunch of rambling on save your time just skip this video

Their is a lot more going on here than what we are being told, I honestly believe that we got to give ourselves a chance before we no longer have this chance these phenomena around the world are warning signs. Find who you are inside and out love yourself and love others, forgivness to yourself and to others, what are we willing to do for ourselves and for others this is the biggest test any of us will face. Much love

That has been around for years I remember seeing it when I was 10 and I'm 40 now and my uncle showed it to me when hunting and it was there when he was a kid

I used to have dreams of this when I was like 4 years old.

Sure blame the farmers, First look at the wasted water in PHX

5:00 the ground is subsiding because the farmers are drawing so much water from the aquifer but you had to wait five minutes to find out

It’s called high desert. It’s either an aquifers that is getting low or a underground mineshaft that collapsed. They are quite common in those areas.

Here come the crazies protesting farming....

This seems to be a problem here in southern Arizona San Tan Valley Homes are being damaged & some red tagged due to sinkholes & fishers opening up in the ground. When I was looking for a house to buy a year ago here in southern Arizona we were thinking of San Tan Valley our realtor told us about the grond problem so we ended up buying a home in Casa Grande now I'm not so sure that was such a good idea after seeing this video. I guess time will tell wait & see what happens over the next few years.. Nice vid thanks for the info...

That damn squirrel again!

The slowest earthquake ever 😂😂😂

They are pumping millions of gallons of groundwater out of the aquifers to water alfalfa fields owned by the Saudi’s. Much of AZ is in a drought I expect to hear about more sink holes and ground splits in the future followed by extreme water shortages for some communities.

The lesser known "Bland Canyon".

I have known about this for over 45 years. It is obvious that they are draining the aquifer of the Victoria Valley. Out in the middle between Coolidge and Casa Grande, the alluvial dirt is around 5,000 feet deep. A big crack opened up close to Picacho Peek and another near Mesa, Arizona.

I live in South Eastern Arizona and I notice that small cracks fork in the ground but I have never heard of this happening.

Have you bought your beach front property on the east side of it?

This fissure makes wonder if there going to end up with a new grand canyon

I had a big crack in my windshield once. It got smaller and smaller and finally closed up.

Same thing happend around the San tan mountains when I was a kid 55 years ago, they said it was ground water being used.

Looks just like Beggar's Canyon back home!

A hole has opened up in Arizona, you say? Are the police looking into it?

I lived in NM when I was a kid 65 years ago there where cracks like this everywhere

I've got to say I learned more about a crack in the ground then I ever want to know,thankyou for that..

Casa Grande is in Pinal County. Tucson is in Pima County. Please get the information correct.

a couple of years ago I was driving in the Sonora desert close to the border where that video was taken, but I was in the Mexican side of the border. Well I ran out of gas I pulled over the shoulder of the road and parked the car I knew where I was the closest town was like 5 miles away I decided to take a short cut through the desert I walked and walked until I came on a crack just like that it was over a couple of miles long I couldn't go around it or jump over it because it was over 10 feet wide I had never seen something like that in my life and this is the first time I see it on video or hear about another crack just like the one I saw.

Once those aquifers collapse, that lost water storage capacity is gone for good... then what? BTW, why were two sections of this video blurred out?

back in 1986 i found one down by elsworth and elliot rds. we used to junp it on dirt bikes.sometimes we would go down in it. maybe 20 or 30 foot deep and 10 foot wide

He lost me at "the blame is on man."

South Eastern Arizona ---Sulfur Springs Valley ground water wells started (1940's) at 20 feet. 36 inch bores for big-ag have sucked the water table down to 200 feet. That is the definition of fossil water with a predictable terminal date.

Farmers and ranchers have been doing their thing for hundreds of years, and never used up the water. Maybe people should start asking more questions about the bottled water industry, soda industry, and energy drink industry. Not to mention states and local municipalities diverting water from natural waterways.

I'm a researcher, I always take time to find out the facts! You do your research better!

Its because there are too many people in my state. We are a desert and in a drought we cant support all the people moving here. STOP COMING HERE fix your own state.

"Honey the man on the tube says we done cracked Arizona" "I'll pick some glue up on my way home"

It’s crazy that I live in Phoenix Arizona and haven’t heard a single headline, person talk about it, not even a tweet.

You forgot to talk about the major cause of the reduction of the water table; not agriculture; but mining.

Cracks In Arizona, California. Africa. Something going on with the planet earth right now..loud booms, lights In sky. They are all scurrying like squirrels get ready for winter, but instead they blasting and drilling underground, building train tunnels, cities, D.U.M.B.s, malls, theaters, mansions and condos. And they all selling out. And they seem to be speeding things up as if they know something and the 99% of us poor will not make the VIP list.

This is caused by water erosion. Something that's very common in the Arizona desert. Within a matter of a couple hours a huge Monsoon rain storm can cause huge ruts. In this video you can see that this is part of a dry wash (an Arizona river).

I live in the town of Maricopa, right by this. I have an idea based on what my geologist grandpa has shared with me but I'm no geologist myself. There is a huge dormant volcano just to the South east of me, and there are smaller fissures popping up all over the area between my house and said dormant volcano, so personally I would lean more towards shifting surface dirt because of lava movement in the tubes. Volcano is dormant but the lava could still be flowing around the area under and around it. Maybe.

Arroyos form all the time in the desert too, then they- eventually- fill in. Maybe that's the case with these cracks also.

The rest of America is trying to get away from Commiefornia.😂

"More over it is what's under the crack you should be worried about." Mole people? "Holes." You can't trick me.

Hello there. Do you know if the crack has gotten any longer or wider since this report?

We have alot of those... Same thing happen on the Navajo reservation by leupp a huge crack opened up and nothing happened.

It's the tectonic plates, their moving. (slowly).

We have met the enemy and he is us - Pogo

Over drilling and pulling water out of the desert causes high cracks

I was in skull valley when I had a huge explosion/earth quake under the trailer that same day that crack opened up. I heard the rumble head south. Shortly after that I moved out of the red zone. By the way the salty hot water in quartsite Az is bad . The water comes out if 9,600 ft well. Hot water in mesqite Nevada to.. You could take a hot shower just with the cold water line. No joke. All along the fault lines there seems to be this problem. Something is going to happen .