Publications

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...

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...

Conceptual models of the thermal structure of the Oregon Cascade Range propose either (1) a narrow zone of magmatic heat sources, flanked by shallow heat-flow anomalies caused by lateral ground-water flow; or (2) a wide zone of magmatic heat sources, with localized, generally negligible ground-water effects. The proposed narrow heat source coincides with the Quaternary volcanic arc...

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...

No abstract available.

No abstract available.

Professional Paper 1553 describes how people and organizations responded to the earthquake and how the earthquake impacted people and society. The investigations evaluate the tools available to the research community to measure the nature, extent, and causes of damage and losses. They describe human behavior during and immediately after the earthquake and how citizens participated in...

On June 27, 1992, the Crater Peak vent on the south side of Mt. Spurr awoke from 39 years of dormancy and burst into subplinian eruption after 10 months of elevated seismicity. Two more eruptions followed in August and September. The volcano lies 125-km west of Anchorage, which is Alaska's largest city and an important international hub for air travel. The Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO...

No abstract available.

Study of debris-flow geomorphology and initiation mechanism has led to better understanding of debris-flow processes. This paper reviews how this understanding is used in current techniques for assessment and prediction of debris-flow hazards.

Professional Paper 1550 seeks to understand the M6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake itself. It examines how the fault that generated the earthquake ruptured, searches for and evaluates precursors that may have indicated an earthquake was coming, reviews forecasts of the earthquake, and describes the geology of the earthquake area and the crustal forces that affect this geology. Some significant...

In a handful of molten magma weighing about a pound, there is less than a tenth of an ounce, by weight, of idssolved gas-roughly the same weight as a pinch of table salt. Yet this tiny amount of gas produces spectacular lava foundations hundreds of meters high (see accompanying photograph). The fountain occurs as magma reaches the surface, because dissolved volcanic gases exolve and...