Mud Creek 2017 May 27-June 13 Erosion View 1

In 2017, the massive Mud Creek landslide buried a quarter-mile of the famous coastal route, California’s Highway 1, with rocks and dirt more than 65 feet deep. USGS monitors erosion along the landslide-prone cliffs of Big Sur, collecting aerial photos frequently throughout the year. By analyzing overlapping photos, they made precise maps of the slopes and calculated volumes of material lost or gained over time. The last slide in this animation shows the differences between the May 27 and June 13 photos, calculating the volume of land lost or gained.