A post containing two videos with the message ‘Mongolia experienced moving of the earth’s crust due to high differences in pressure and temperature under the earth’ is going viral on social media.
But guess what? It’s fake news!
The two videos in the viral post are old and unrelated. The first video shows the thawing of permafrost in southwest China in 2017, while the second video is of a landslide that took place in Italy in 2010.
The two unrelated videos showing completely different geological phenomena that took place in different countries at different times, are being widely shared with a message that Mongolia is experiencing the earth’s crust moving.
This is the message accompanying the videos on WhatsApp and Facebook: ‘At 10.19 am yesterday, Mongolia experienced the moving earth-crust, due to high difference in pressure and temperature under the earth’.
The first video shows surreal visuals of darkened soil and patches of grass flow as a river through a hillside. BOOM was able to find a September 2017 article by the National Geographic through a reverse image search.
The video went viral in September 2017 on Chinese social media sites Weibo and WeChat and was identified as the Dimye village on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in Southwest China.
Many have guessed that rising temperatures in the region led to thawing of permafrost or the layer of soil that is usually frozen year-round, according to the article. Permafrost plays an important role in cold regions as it keeps the overlying layer of soil in place and serves as foundation for trees and plants.
When underlying permafrost begins to warm, it thaws and can no longer support the soil above it. Depending on how much permafrost sits beneath a region, the ground can become highly unstable.
Landslide in Southern Italy in 2010
The second video shows a massive landslide being recorded as rescue workers appear dumbstruck with the horrific visuals unfolding before them.
BOOM was able to trace the video through a reverse image search to a massive landslide that took place in 2010 in the Maierato municipality in the Province of Vibo Valentia in Calabria, southern Italy.
According to an article in Britain’s Telegraph , 200 residents in Maierato had to evacuate their homes as a landslide descended on the town, destroying buildings in its path.
(This article was first published on BOOM and has been republished with permission.)
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