KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — After a large rock fall on Saturday, Meads Quarry Lake and Tharp's Trail at Ijams Nature Center are closed.
Ijams said geologists from the Tennessee Geological Survey will soon inspect the area.
On Tuesday, WBIR showed an expert the video of the rocks falling. Daniel Vandenberge, a geological engineer and professor at Tennessee Technical University, said he would classify the event as a rock fall — not a rock slide.
"Most of our rock in Eastern Tennessee has quite a bit of joints and cracks from natural processes in it," Vandenberge said. "You can't necessarily predict where those are. Those are spots with time that water can get into and either by freezing and thawing, push those apart, or simply just weaken the rock or this material that's inside of the joints."
Mead's Quarry Lake is a manmade lake, a former mining spot for marble. Vandenberge said the steep face of rock makes events like this somewhat common.
"Gravity is pulling down on them," Vandenberge said. "With time, there can be joints or cracks in those rocks that get weaker. That's often alongside those roads. Organizations like the highway department will go through and periodically look for loose pieces and kind of try to pull that down."
Ijams is asking visitors to please observe the caution tape and signs, and not enter trails or the water for safety reasons.