Millicoma Meander, Elliott State Forest, Oregon Completed
The USGS and its cooperators have installed instruments in a steep, recently clear-cut basin in the Elliott State Forest.
Recent Conditions
The Millicoma Meander site requires maintenance and is currently not collecting data. Instruments for this site were installed in late summer 2012 and are used to monitor and detect changes in local conditions, including:
- Rainfall
- Channel Stage
- Ground Water Pressure (Tensionmeters)
- Soil Temperature
- Soil Water Content
- Ground Vibrations
- Battery Voltage and Station Temperatures
Displayed measurements are taken at 1-minute intervals and transmitted hourly during daylight hours to be displayed on graphs.
Project Background
Landslides in the Oregon Coast Range impact people and the environment and are commonly induced by intense or prolonged rainfall associated with strong storms in the late fall and winter season. For example, in February and November of 1996 heavy rainfall from two unusually large storms induced thousands of landslides over a large part of western Oregon.
The USGS and its cooperators have installed instruments in a steep, recently clear-cut basin in the Elliott State Forest. Data collection at this site supports research on hydrologic factors that control landslide initiation, debris-flow timing, and debris-flow magnitude. In many landslide-prone hillsides, infiltration of water from rainfall or snowmelt increases ground-water pressures. These elevated pressures can, in turn, induce landslide movement which can lead to debris-flows.
- Overview
The USGS and its cooperators have installed instruments in a steep, recently clear-cut basin in the Elliott State Forest.
Recent Conditions
The Millicoma Meander site requires maintenance and is currently not collecting data. Instruments for this site were installed in late summer 2012 and are used to monitor and detect changes in local conditions, including:
- Rainfall
- Channel Stage
- Ground Water Pressure (Tensionmeters)
- Soil Temperature
- Soil Water Content
- Ground Vibrations
- Battery Voltage and Station Temperatures
Displayed measurements are taken at 1-minute intervals and transmitted hourly during daylight hours to be displayed on graphs.
Project Background
Landslides in the Oregon Coast Range impact people and the environment and are commonly induced by intense or prolonged rainfall associated with strong storms in the late fall and winter season. For example, in February and November of 1996 heavy rainfall from two unusually large storms induced thousands of landslides over a large part of western Oregon.
The USGS and its cooperators have installed instruments in a steep, recently clear-cut basin in the Elliott State Forest. Data collection at this site supports research on hydrologic factors that control landslide initiation, debris-flow timing, and debris-flow magnitude. In many landslide-prone hillsides, infiltration of water from rainfall or snowmelt increases ground-water pressures. These elevated pressures can, in turn, induce landslide movement which can lead to debris-flows.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media DetailsLocations of instrument stations overlain on topographic contour and slope maps of the Millicoma Meander drainage basin. (Public domain.)
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media DetailsPhotograph of the channel station showing the laser distance meter (in red circle) high above the channel used to measure stage (height) of flow in the channel. (Public domain.)