Huge landslide on California’s Big Sur coast continues to change
The Mud Creek landslide on California’s Big Sur coast keeps eroding.
The Mud Creek landslide on California’s Big Sur coast keeps eroding, as seen in air photos taken June 26. USGS scientists have been collecting and analyzing air photos about every two weeks, weather permitting, since the slide occurred on May 20. Maps derived from the June 26 photos show continued movement on the slide’s upper slopes and accelerating erosion at its toe. Since May 27, the 13-acre bulge of new land created by the slide has lost about 2 acres to wave erosion at its seaward edge, while material has accumulated on the beaches beside it. The latest photos also captured new roads built by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to monitor and sample the slide.
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Remote Sensing Coastal Change
Big Sur Landslides
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Remote Sensing Coastal Change
We use remote-sensing technologies—such as aerial photography, satellite imagery, structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry, and lidar (laser-based surveying)—to measure coastal change along U.S. shorelines.Big Sur Landslides
On California’s Big Sur coast, the steep slopes at Mud Creek suffered a catastrophic collapse (May 20, 2017). On January 28, 2021, heavy rains from a two-day storm caused debris from fire-scarred slopes to wash out another section of road at Rat Creek. USGS scientists are monitoring this 100-mile section of the California coastline, in collaboration with the CA Department of Transportation. - News
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