The back wall of Mead’s Quarry Lake will greet visitors to Ijams Nature Center with a new face this summer after two large rockslides fell from the cliff in the last nine months, though the wall’s new angle is more stable, the center’s CEO told Knox News.
Ijams added warning buoys and a floating rope to mark off a “no-go zone” around the wall after a rockslide injured swimmers in May. Since then, more rockslides have changed the shape of the wall and left debris at its base.
“We anticipated much of this based on the information from a geologist. Happily, this spalling off has created more of an angle to the wall, which creates more stability,” Ijams President and CEO Amber Parker told Knox News in an email.
The wall will continue to be unstable, and small rock falls are possible every day, Parker said. Mead’s Quarry Lake is open all year, and boat rentals will reopen for the summer season in May.
“Visitors should remain behind the safety lines and buoys that have been installed for their protection,” Parker said.
More: What caused dangerous rockslide at Mead’s Quarry? Earthquakes and rain might be factors
The quarry filled with water after the Williams Limestone Company, which quarried a type of limestone called Tennessee pink marble, abandoned operations in the late 1970s. Knox County purchased the quarry in 2001 and Ijams opened it as a public swimming hole in 2005.
Ijams unveiled a master plan in January 2024 that proposed new concessions spaces, an outdoor classroom and an accessible trail to the water at Mead’s Quarry Lake. The center does not anticipate any additions to the lake this year, Parker said.
The city expects to finish similar renovations at another South Knoxville lake, Augusta Quarry at Fort Dickerson Park, this summer.
Mead’s Quarry rockslides have many causes
Around five visitors to Mead’s Quarry Lake sustained minor injuries last summer not because of the rock falling from the quarry wall itself, but from the wall of water the rockslide sent across the lake on May 25. One person was hospitalized.
The lake closed for two weeks and reopened in June with a warning that swimmers who enter the safety zone around the wall will be asked to leave. There are no lifeguards at the lake, and cliff jumping is strictly prohibited.
The back wall of Mead’s Quarry Lake has sustained a handful of major rockslides in the last year, though Ijams Nature Center staff said the wall was more stable.
The center brought out a geologist from the Tennessee Geological Survey to examine the wall after the rockslide. Potential causes of the slide included abnormally heavy rain, small earthquakes and the quarry’s history of dynamite blasting.
Ijams is a 318-acre nonprofit environmental education center that relies on donor and member support. It features more than 14 miles of trails, Knoxville’s only outdoor rock climbing wall and a natural playground. It is open every day from 8 a.m. until dusk.
Daniel Dassow is a growth and development reporter focused on technology and energy. Email: daniel.dassow@knoxnews.com. Signal: @danieldassow.24.
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Rockslides at Mead’s Quarry Lake in Knoxville make cliff more stable