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Slumgullion; Colorado’s natural landslide laboratory Slumgullion; Colorado’s natural landslide laboratory

The mammoth Slumgullion landslide in southwestern Colorado is the largest actively moving landslide in Colorado and, perhaps, the entire country. To learn more about how and why landslides move the way they do, scientists at the U.S Geological Survey (USGS) have observed and monitored the remarkably regular movement of this landslide for more than 30 years. Located near Lake City in the...
Authors
L.M. Highland

Instrumental shaking thresholds for seismically induced landslides and preliminary report on landslides triggered by the October 17, 1989, Loma Prieta, California earthquake Instrumental shaking thresholds for seismically induced landslides and preliminary report on landslides triggered by the October 17, 1989, Loma Prieta, California earthquake

The generation of seismically induced landslide depends on the characteristics of shaking as well as mechanical properties of geologic materials. A very important parameter in the study of seismically induced landslide is the intensity based on a strong-motion accelerogram: it is defined as Arias intensity and is proportional to the duration of the shaking record as well as the amplitude...
Authors
E. L. Harp

Time-dependent landslide probability mapping Time-dependent landslide probability mapping

Case studies where time of failure is known for rainfall-triggered debris flows can be used to estimate the parameters of a hazard model in which the probability of failure is a function of time. As an example, a time-dependent function for the conditional probability of a soil slip is estimated from independent variables representing hillside morphology, approximations of material...
Authors
Russell H. Campbell, Richard L. Bernknopf

Observations and modeling of seismic background noise Observations and modeling of seismic background noise

The preparation of this report had two purposes. One was to present a catalog of seismic background noise spectra obtained from a worldwide network of seismograph stations. The other purpose was to refine and document models of seismic background noise that have been in use for several years. The second objective was, in fact, the principal reason that this study was initiated and...
Authors
Jon R. Peterson

Directions of the US Geological Survey Landslide Hazards Reduction Program Directions of the US Geological Survey Landslide Hazards Reduction Program

The US Geological Survey (USGS) Landslide Hazards Reduction Program includes studies of landslide process and prediction, landslide susceptibility and risk mapping, landslide recurrence and slope evolution, and research application and technology transfer. Studies of landslide processes have been recently conducted in Virginia, Utah, California, Alaska, and Hawaii, Landslide...
Authors
G. F. Wieczorek

Analysis of the seismic origin of landslides: Examples from the New Madrid seismic zone Analysis of the seismic origin of landslides: Examples from the New Madrid seismic zone

By analyzing two landslides in the New Madrid seismic zone, we develop an approach for judging if a landslide or group of landslides of unknown origin was more likely to have formed as a result of earthquake shaking or in aseismic conditions. The two landslides analyzed are representative of two groups of land-slides that previous research on the geomorphology and regional distribution...
Authors
R.W. Jibson, D. K. Keefer

The Golden bypass landslide, Golden, Colorado The Golden bypass landslide, Golden, Colorado

Slope instability along a new highway bypass in Golden, Colorado, became a major concern in 1993. Rains and snowmelt accelerated movement of a landslide that had begun to develop before the bypass was opened to traffic in July of 1991. The downslope movement of earth materials increased significantly in 1993. During the first few months of the year, the landslide pushed onto the west...
Authors
L.M. Highland, W. M. Brown
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