Videos

Wildfire often amplifies the likelihood and magnitude of debris flows in steep terrain. In arid climates (e.g. US Mountain West and Southwest), post-fire debris flows typically occur during the first rains following fire, suggesting that rainfall-driven erosion is a strong control on in-channel preconditioning and triggering of these hazards.

At the USGS National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC), our team locates and researches earthquakes to provide information on how to reduce risk from earthquakes.

At the USGS National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC), our team locates and researches earthquakes to provide information on how to reduce risk from earthquakes.

Ever wonder what it is like to work as a USGS intern? Dive into these intern stories of how students are making science their superpower while studying earthquakes!

Every 11 years the Sun's magnetic field flips. This period is referred to as a solar cycle. As we approach the peak of Solar Cycle 25, activity on the Sun’s surface will increase, including more solar flares, sunspots, and coronal mass ejections.

Every 11 years the Sun's magnetic field flips. This period is referred to as a solar cycle. As we approach the peak of Solar Cycle 25, activity on the Sun’s surface will increase, including more solar flares, sunspots, and coronal mass ejections.

Atmospheric rivers (ARs) are transient channels of intense horizontal water vapor transport in the lower atmosphere.

On February 6, 2023, magnitude 7.8 and 7.5 earthquakes struck Turkey near the Syrian border. Over 50,000 people lost their lives. Earthquake shaking was not the only hazard. The quake triggered landslides, liquefaction, and other cascading hazards.

Ever wonder how scientists measure how thick landslides are? There are a few ways, but the one Kate Allstadt explains might surprise you.

When a landslide is recognized to be life-threatening, difficult decisions follow. Like, should the house be evacuated? Is the community safe enough? How much should be invested in mitigation? For the past two decades, we have been applying a quantitative risk management framework to inform these types of decisions.

The development of a Geologic Hazards Program for the USDA Forest Service is a challenging undertaking.

Debris flows occur as a result of glacial outburst floods or intense fall storms prior to snow accumulations and occur commonly at the glaciated Mount Rainier, WA. Over 60 such events have been documented since 1928, 35+ of which have occurred in Tahoma Creek on the southwest side of the park.

In the Barry Arm fjord of Alaska, repeat, high-resolution aerial and satellite data provide a unique opportunity to learn how a large bedrock landslide with a receding and thinning glacier at the toe is deforming.

The Washington Geological Survey works to increase public and scientific understanding of landslide hazards in Washington State. One of the ways that we do this is through use of interpretive maps, illustrations, and other types of graphics. I will show several examples of these products and will discuss some of the methods used to construct them.

While California has been known to experience a fire-flood cycle for about a century, post-fire flood and debris-flow risks are increasing due to increases in the frequency and intensity of wildfires and storms and urbanization in fire- and flood-prone areas.

A range of flow types can be observed in steep, recently-burned terrain, but predicting the spatial distribution of debris flows resulting from a single storm event remains challenging.

Optical remote sensing observations of the 2019 Ridgecrest, California, earthquake sequence revealed a significant amount of surface ejecta in the nearby Searles Lake, including one area where the surface ejecta was arranged in a repeating hexagonal “honeycomb” pattern.

In the mid-1980s, Art Schultz (USGS, ret.) drew on experiences in the Colorado Front Range to identify numerous large, stratigraphically intact, kilometer-scale bedrock landslides on interbedded sandstone-shale dip slopes in the Virginia Valley and Ridge.

Dr. Annemarie Baltay talks about the October 25th, 2022 M5.1 earthquake in Seven Trees, California.

The recently published landslide inventory for most landslide-prone areas in Minnesota provides the basis for generation of landslide susceptibility maps. These maps are derived from logistic regression analysis of mapped landslide occurrences, terrain characteristics, and Quaternary geological mapping.

This video serves as a virtual fieldtrip to document the debris flow activity following the Grizzly Creek Fire in the Glenwood Canyon, CO, USA. The Grizzly Creek Fire initiated in August 2020, and widespread destructive debris flow activity followed the during the summer of 2021.