Big Sur Landslides
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The dynamic coastal landscape of California’s Big Sur, about 140 mi south of San Francisco, is a setting where science disciplines in tectonics, landslides, coastal change, ecosystems, wildfire, and hydrology come together. USGS brings expertise from multiple Programs at the USGS to improve understanding as we fulfill the mission for reducing risk from natural hazards for the Nation.
Regional Assessment
USGS publications on the Big Sur coast
Historical coastal cliff retreat along the California coast
Decadal-scale analysis of coastal landslides along the Big Sur coast
Rates of landsliding and cliff retreat along the Big Sur Coast
Map showing coastal cliff retreat rates along the Big Sur coast
Beach systems: sediment yield from Big Sur coastal landslides
News
Photo Roundup - December 2020-March 2021
A selection of coastal and marine images and videos from across the USGS.
Natural Hazards Newsletter - Vol. 2 | Issue Spring 2021
In this issue: When will Mauna Loa next Erupt?, ShakeOut rollout to the Pacific Northwest, Big Sur Landslides, new storymaps for earthquakes and wildfire science, expanding coverage of the "Total Water Level and Coastal Change Forecast" tools, New Reducing Risk 2021 projects, and more.
Bringing USGS Science Expertise Together for Natural Hazards in Big Sur, CA
Recent landslide activity along California’s Pacific coast in the region known as Big Sur has provided graphic examples of the power and impacts of natural hazard events.
Publications
Controls on sediment distribution in the coastal zone of the central California transform continental margin, USA
We use >10,000 km of high-resolution seismic-reflection data together with multibeam bathymetry to document complex and highly variable post-Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) sediment distribution and thickness in the coastal zone (~10 m isobath to 5.6 km offshore) along a ~800 km section of central California's transform...
Johnson, Samuel; Beeson, Jeffrey W.; Watt, Janet; Sliter, Ray; Papesh, Antoinette
Offshore shallow structure and sediment distribution, Point Sur to Point Arguello, central California
This publication consists of three map sheets that display shallow geologic structure, along with sediment distribution and thickness, for an about 225-km-long offshore section of the central California coast between Point Sur and Point Arguello. Each map sheet includes three maps, at scales of either 1:150,000 or 1:200,000, as well as a set of...
Johnson, Samuel Y.; Hartwell, Stephen R.; Watt, Janet T.; Beeson, Jeffrey W.; Dartnell, Peter Characterizing the catastrophic 2017 Mud Creek Landslide, California, using repeat Structure-from-Motion (SfM) photogrammetry
Along the rugged coast of Big Sur, California, the Mud Creek landslide failed catastrophically on May 20, 2017 and destroyed over 400 m of scenic California State Highway 1. We collected structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry data using airborne platforms that, when combined with existing airborne lidar data, revealed that the area exhibited...
Warrick, Jonathan; Ritchie, Andrew C.; Reid, Mark E.; Schmidt, Kevin; Logan, Joshua B.