Massive bluff collapse sends boulders onto Little Dume Beach

By Barbara Burke · Fri Jul 24 2026

The early morning rockfall startled nearby residents, altered the shoreline, and highlighted the ongoing forces of erosion shaping Malibu's iconic coastline

It happened suddenly at approximately 3 a.m. on July 10, alarming some sleeping in nearby homes who were awakened by a thunderous coastal cliff rockfall that sent enormous boulders tumbling onto Little Dume Beach.

“Just sharing local knowledge about what I’ve witnessed over the years, I note that these slumps happen about every eight to 12 years,” recalled Paul Major, who grew up on Point Dume. “With a vertical bluff like that, there are areas that periodically fall — I’ve seen a few of them there since the early 1960s, about two of them on Little Dume Beach itself and two or three between there and the Zumirez beach area. I’ve seen one or two at Westward Beach as well over the years and those were near the headlands at the end of the parking lot, just below the last three houses on Birdview as it meets Cliffside.”

The mountains rolled down toward the sea — A tour of the beach’s rockslide area

As one descends down one of the Rivieras, the term used for the locally divided sections in parts of the Point Dume neighborhood that provide residents deeded access to Little Dume Beach, he goes along a small gorge, adjacent to a creek that sometimes flows after rainfalls. The path is situated at an angle near private access paths leading to homes, paths that once were trails the Chumash used to access the beach from the canyons above. 

Surrounded by lush foliage, some native and some invasive, including poison oak and bamboo, I enjoyed a view of the ocean beyond as it hosted paddleboarders, a surfer at the outer reef and more near Mystos, and a sailboat beyond, all athletes who were enjoying a beautiful Malibu day, oblivious to the significant changes in the beach’s configuration attributable to the partial bluff collapse.

Huge boulders and smaller rocks now rest upon the beach, leading beachgoers familiar with this stretch of beachline to stop, ponder, and speculate. My guide, Eric “Rockman” Pierson, grew up in Malibu, is commonly on this particular beach, and is intimately familiar with its characteristics.

Helping me to get my bearings, he pointed toward Zuma Beach to the west and Little Dume Bay to the east, with Paradise Cove Pier in the distance beyond. Then, looking toward the bluffs and away from the ocean, he glanced upward from the part of the beach where the rocks and boulders fell and pointed out the exact areas where sections of the cliff’s rocks sheared off from the steep cliffside.  

Amidst contour drains installed by residents on the bluffs in efforts to control possible erosion attributable to water flow along the steep cliffs, one can clearly discern that some areas above now reveal small, partially exposed cemented surfaces that now teeter precariously beyond the bluff tops. Indeed, a few bricks from the homes above now lay within the deposited rocks on the beach. 

Over time, wave erosion has removed some of the cliffs’ lateral strength, carving small, indented caverns right at beach level, Pierson explained. As the tide began to come in, he pointed to such small embayments that are cave-like and are attributable to wave uprushes. “The currents and the tides are slowly destabilizing some of the cliffs," he said. “Sea level is rising ever so much and has hollowed out some lower areas, thereby possibly weakening some of the cliffs above. Some of the residents from the homes above have installed caissons to help stabilize the bluffs.”

To demonstrate the enormous force of the tides, Pierson takes me on a walk to Little Dume Bay, noting that some rather sizable boulders and rocks from the cliffs’ recent partial collapse already have been pushed there by the ocean waves. “Some of the rocks have been thrust all the way to Paradise Cove,” he added.

Both Major and Pierson note they are not trained geologists, geotechnical, nor civil soils engineers. However, they do know this beach, having walked it since childhood, and they do know its contours have slightly changed since the most recent cliff slide. 

Ever pragmatic, Major waxed a bit philosophical and commented on the rhythms of nature, stating, “The bluff slippage in that area will likely disappear over the years due to the high tides as it consists of fairly soft material — I believe they call it diatomaceous earth layers.” In the meantime however, he wished, “Hopefully, those deposited boulders and rocks will make some new housing available for the crabs and small critters on the beach that always need some place to hide from all the people that go down to that beach nowadays.”