Landslide Hazards Program
Publications
Geologic controls of slow-moving landslides near the U.S. West Coast
Slow-moving landslides, often with nearly imperceptible creeping motion, are an important landscape shaper and a dangerous natural hazard across the globe, yet their spatial distribution and geologic controls are still poorly known owing to a paucity of detailed, large-area observations. Here, we use interferometry of L-band satellite radar images...
Xu, Yuankun; Schulz, William; Lu, Zhong; Kim, Jinwook; Baxstrom, Kelli Wadsworth
Hazard analysis of landslides triggered by Typhoon Chata'an on July 2, 2002, in Chuuk State, Federated States of Micronesia
More than 250 landslides were triggered across the eastern volcanic islands of Chuuk State in the Federated States of Micronesia by torrential rainfall from tropical storm Chata’an on July 2, 2002. Landslides triggered during nearly 20 inches of rainfall in less than 24 hours caused 43 fatalities and the destruction or damage of 231 structures,...
Harp, Edwin L.; Reid, Mark E.; Michael, John A.
Preliminary assessment of the wave generating potential from landslides at Barry Arm, Prince William Sound, Alaska
We simulated the concurrent rapid motion of landslides on an unstable slope at Barry Arm, Alaska. Movement of landslides into the adjacent fjord displaced fjord water and generated a tsunami, which propagated out of Barry Arm. Rather than assuming an initial sea surface height, velocity, and location for the tsunami, we generated the tsunami...
Barnhart, Katherine R.; Jones, Ryan P.; George, David L.; Coe, Jeffrey A.; Staley, Dennis M. HydroMet: A new code for automated objective optimization of hydrometeorological thresholds for landslide initiation
Landslide detection and warning systems are important tools for mitigation of potential hazards in landslide prone areas. Traditionally, warning systems for shallow landslides have been informed by rainfall intensity-duration thresholds. More recent advances have introduced the concept of hydrometeorological thresholds that are informed not only...
Conrad, Jacob Lawrence; Morphew, Michael D.; Baum, Rex L.; Mirus, Benjamin B. When hazard avoidance is not an option: Lessons learned from monitoring the postdisaster Oso landslide, USA
On 22 March 2014, a massive, catastrophic landslide occurred near Oso, Washington, USA, sweeping more than 1 km across the adjacent valley flats and killing 43 people. For the following 5 weeks, hundreds of workers engaged in an exhaustive search, rescue, and recovery effort directly in the landslide runout path. These workers could not avoid the...
Reid, Mark E.; Godt, Jonathan W.; LaHusen, Richard G; Slaughter, Stephen L; Badger, Thomas C.; Collins, Brian D.; Schulz, William; Baum, Rex L.; Coe, Jeffrey A.; Harp, Edwin L; Schmidt, Kevin; Iverson, Richard M.; Smith, Joel B.; Haugerud, Ralph; George, David L. Evaluation of techniques for mitigating snowmelt infiltration-induced landsliding in a highway embankment
Infiltration-induced landslides threaten transportation infrastructure around the world, and impose both direct costs through repair and remediation work and indirect costs through lost economic activity. Therefore, finding the most cost-effective techniques to mitigate slope failures that can impact critical infrastructure links is desirable. The...
Hinds, Eric; Lu, Ning; Mirus, Benjamin B.; Godt, Jonathan W.; Wayllace, Alexandra Movement of sediment through a burned landscape: Sediment volume observations and model comparisons in the San Gabriel Mountains, California, USA
Post-wildfire changes to hydrologic and geomorphic systems can lead to widespread sediment redistribution. Understanding how sediment moves through a watershed is crucial for assessing hazards, developing debris flow inundation models, engineering sediment retention solutions, and quantifying the role that disturbances play in landscape evolution...
Rengers, Francis K.; McGuire, Luke A.; Kean, Jason W.; Staley, Dennis M.; Dobre, Mariana; Robichaud, Peter R.; Swetnam, Tyson Evaluation of remote mapping techniques for earthquake-triggered landslide inventories in an urban subarctic environment: A case study of the 2018 Anchorage, Alaska Earthquake
Earthquake-induced landslide inventories can be generated using field observations but doing so can be challenging if the affected landscape is large or inaccessible after an earthquake. Remote sensing data can be used to help overcome these limitations. The effectiveness of remotely sensed data to produce landslide inventories, however, is...
Martinez, Sabrina Nicole; Schaefer, Lauren Nicole; Allstadt, Kate; Thompson, Eric M. A massive rock and ice avalanche caused the 2021 disaster at Chamoli, Indian Himalaya
On 7 Feb 2021, a catastrophic mass flow descended the Ronti Gad, Rishiganga, and Dhauliganga valleys in Chamoli, Uttarakhand, India, causing widespread devastation and severely damaging two hydropower projects. Over 200 people were killed or are missing. Our analysis of satellite imagery, seismic records, numerical model results, and eyewitness...
Shugar, D. H.; Jacquemart, Mylène; Shean, D.; Bhushan, S.; Upadhyay, K.; Sattar, A.; Schwanghart, W.; McBride, Sara K.; Van Wyk de Vries, M.; Mergili, M.; Emmer, A.; Deschamps-Berger, C.; McDonnell, M.; Bhambri, R.; Allen, S.; Berthier, E.; Carrivick, J.L.; Clague, J.J.; Dokukin, M.; Dunning, S.A.; Frey, Herbert; Gascoin, S.; Haritashya, U. K.; Huggel, C.; Kaab, A.; Kargel, J.S.; Kavanaugh, J.L.; Lacroix, P.; Petley, D. N.; Rupper, S.; Azam, M.F.; Cook, S.J.; Dimri, A.P.; Eriksson, M.; Farinotti, D.; Fiddes, J.; Gnyawali, K.R.; Harrison, S.; Jha, M.K.; Koppes, M.; Kumar, S.; Leiness, S.; Majeed, U.; Mai, S.; Muhuri, A.; Noetzli, J.; Paul, F.; Rashid, I.; Sain, K.; Steiner, J.; Ugalde, F.; Watson, C.S.; Westoby, M.J. A near-real-time model for estimating probability of road obstruction due to earthquake-triggered landslides
Coseismic landslides are a major source of transportation disruption in mountainous areas, but few approaches exist for rapidly estimating impacts to road networks. We develop a model that links the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) near-real-time earthquake-triggered landslide hazard model with Open Street Map (OSM) road network data to rapidly...
Wilson, B.H.; Allstadt, Kate; Thompson, Eric M. Numerical analysis of the effect of subgrid variability in a physically based hydrological model on runoff, soil moisture, and slope stability
In coarse resolution hydrological modeling we face the problem of subgrid variability, the effects of which are difficult to express and are often hidden in the parameterization and calibration. We present a numerical experiment with the physically based hydrological model ParFlow‐CLM with which we quantify the effect of subgrid heterogeneities in...
Leonarduzzi, E.; Maxwell, R. M.; Mirus, Benjamin B.; Molnar, P. Incorporating the effects of complex soil layering and thickness local variability into distributed landslide susceptibility assessments
Incorporating the influence of soil layering and local variability into the parameterizations of physics-based numerical models for distributed landslide susceptibility assessments remains a challenge. Typical applications employ substantial simplifications including homogeneous soil units and soil-hydraulic properties assigned based only on...
Fusco, F.; Mirus, Benjamin B.; Baum, Rex L.; Calcaterra, D.; De Vita, P.