Truttman Sink
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Continent | North America |
|---|---|
| Region | California |
| Coordinates | 41°12′58″N 124°06′42″W / 41.2160°N 124.1117°W |
The Truttman Sink is an earthflow within the Humboldt Lagoons State Park, along the coast of Humboldt County, California. It is located between Trinidad to the south and Orick to the north. It deposits materials into the northern end of Big Lagoon and the Pacific Ocean, especially during periods of heavy rain. The soil characteristics, geology, and vegetation along the slope of this mass-wasting feature suggest a combination of an earthflow movement and a rotational slump.
The Truttman Sink has a documented history of higher recession rates from wave activity in comparison to headlands to the north and south.[1] This area was given its name by Cal Trans because the Truttman family owned the land surrounding the coastal headlands. The original highway alignment between Kane Road and the north end of Big Lagoon and McDonald Creek was built on extremely unconsolidated and unstable uplifted marine sediments. After years of paving over the eroding highway for maintenance, Cal Trans ultimately brought Highway 101 to its current inland alignment and decommissioned the old highway in 1971.[2]
Settlers and gold miners made their way to this area in the 1800s, which made major impacts on the area. They brought with them livestock that would occasionally overgraze the natural meadows, which led to the burning of thick vegetation off the more gentle, rolling terrain to increase pastureland. According to Richard Truttman, the headland was burned every other year in January and the original Sitka Spruce forest was logged or burned. This left the headland barren of vegetation for many years and immensely affected the slope stability of the area.[1]
The old highway remained stable for a few years after construction, but then began to slip. Eventually, the old highway surface was known to have dropped one meter overnight.[1] This drop is the headscarp of the mass wasting event.