Rex Baum
Rex worked as a research geologist in the Landslide Hazards Program of the U.S. Geological Survey.
While at the USGS Rex conducted research on landslide processes, monitoring, forecasting and warning, and hazards in the Colorado Plateau, Colorado Front Range, southern Rocky Mountains, southwest Ohio, central California, Hawaii, the Pacific Northwest, Puerto Rico, Poland, and El Salvador, Central America.
Education and Certifications
Ph.D., Geology, University of Cincinnati
M.S., Geology, University of Cincinnati
B.U.S., University of New Mexico
Science and Products
Landslides Can Cause More Landslides
Release Date: MAY 15, 2018 The deadliest individual landslides in the U.S. recently were in places where there had previously been a landslide. Why do landslides happen in the same place instead of on nearby slopes that appear to be just as likely, if not more likely, to slide?
Integrating Disparate Spatial Datasets from Local to National Scale for Open-Access Web-Based Visualization and Analysis: A Case Study Compiling U.S. Landslide Inventories
Spatial data on landslide occurrence across the U.S. varies greatly in quality, accessibility, and extent. This problem of data variability is common across USGS Mission Areas; it presents an obstacle to developing national-scale products and to identifying areas with relatively good/bad data coverage. We compiled available data of known landslides into a national-scale, searchable...
Reconstruction of an Avalanche: The West Salt Creek Rock Avalanche
Release Date: MAY 25, 2016 The West Salt Creek Rock Avalanche, Colorado, May 25, 2014
Filter Total Items: 18
REGOLITH--A Fortran 95 program for estimating soil mantle thickness in a digital landscape for landslide and debris-flow hazard assessment REGOLITH--A Fortran 95 program for estimating soil mantle thickness in a digital landscape for landslide and debris-flow hazard assessment
The computer program REGOLITH is a Fortran program designed for estimating soil thickness over a digital landscape. The program implements various published empirical and process-based models for soil thickness. This command-line program is used in conjunction with Python scripts to prepare input files and automate certain steps.
Map and model input and output data for the north Charlotte Creek Basin, Douglas County, Oregon, for analysis of debris-flow initiation resulting from the storm of November 17 - 19, 1996 Map and model input and output data for the north Charlotte Creek Basin, Douglas County, Oregon, for analysis of debris-flow initiation resulting from the storm of November 17 - 19, 1996
Heavy rainfall during mid-November 1996 induced debris flows throughout the southern Oregon Coast Range, including more than 150 in the immediate vicinity of north Charlotte Creek (Coe and others, 2011). Data in this project pertain to a 2.4-km2 area centered at N 43.65° and W 123.94° which an area where high concentrations of debris flows occurred. These data include a subset of a map...
Time-lapse photography of an active coastal-bluff landslide, Mukilteo, Washington, August 2015 - May 2016 Time-lapse photography of an active coastal-bluff landslide, Mukilteo, Washington, August 2015 - May 2016
A time-lapse camera was used to document periodic reactivation of a complex landslide on a steep coastal bluff in Mukilteo, Washington. This landslide is one of four monitoring sites initiated by the U.S Geological Survey to investigate hill-slope hydrology and landslide hazards affecting the railway corridor along the eastern shore of Puget Sound between the cities of Seattle and...
Map of slope-failure locations in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria Map of slope-failure locations in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria
In Puerto Rico, tens of thousands of landslides, slumps, debris flows, rock falls, and other slope failures were triggered by Hurricane Maria, which made landfall on 20 September 2017. "Landslide" is used here and below to represent all types of slope failures. This dataset is a point shapefile of landslide headscarps identified across Puerto Rico using georeferenced aerial and satellite...
Results of Hydrologic Monitoring on Landslide-prone Coastal Bluffs near Mukilteo, Washington Results of Hydrologic Monitoring on Landslide-prone Coastal Bluffs near Mukilteo, Washington
A hydrologic monitoring network was installed to investigate landslide hazards affecting the railway corridor along the eastern shore of Puget Sound between Seattle and Everett, near Mukilteo, Washington. During the summer of 2015, the U.S. Geological Survey installed instrumentation at four sites to measure rainfall and air temperature every 15 minutes. Two of the four sites are...
Results of Hydrologic Monitoring of a Landslide-Prone Hillslope in Portland's West Hills, Oregon, 2006-2017 Results of Hydrologic Monitoring of a Landslide-Prone Hillslope in Portland's West Hills, Oregon, 2006-2017
The West Hills of Portland, in the southern Tualatin Mountains, trend northwest along the west side of Portland, Oregon. These silt-mantled mountains receive significant wet-season precipitation and are prone to sliding during wet conditions, occasionally resulting in significant property damage or casualties. In an effort to develop a baseline for interpretive analysis of the...
Filter Total Items: 71
Progress and lessons learned from responses to landslide disasters Progress and lessons learned from responses to landslide disasters
Landslides have the incredible power to transform landscapes and also, tragically, to cause disastrous societal impacts. Whereas the mechanics and effects of many landslide disasters have been analyzed in detail, the means by which landslide experts respond to these events has garnered much less attention. Herein, we evaluate nine landslide response case histories conducted by the U.S...
Authors
Brian D. Collins, Mark E. Reid, Jeffrey A. Coe, Jason W. Kean, Rex L. Baum, Randall W. Jibson, Jonathan W. Godt, Stephen Slaughter, Greg M. Stock
Landslides across the United States: Occurrence, susceptibility, and data limitations Landslides across the United States: Occurrence, susceptibility, and data limitations
Detailed information about landslide occurrence is the foundation for advancing process understanding, susceptibility mapping, and risk reduction. Despite the recent revolution in digital elevation data and remote sensing technologies, landslide mapping remains resource intensive. Consequently, a modern, comprehensive map of landslide occurrence across the United States (USA) has not...
Authors
Benjamin B. Mirus, Eric S. Jones, Rex L. Baum, Jonathan W. Godt, Stephen L. Slaughter, Matthew Crawford, Jeremy T. Lancaster, Thomas Stanley, Dalia Kirschbaum, William J. Burns, Robert G. Schmitt, Kassandra O Lindsey, Kevin McCoy
Physically based estimation of rainfall thresholds triggering shallow landslides in volcanic slopes of southern Italy Physically based estimation of rainfall thresholds triggering shallow landslides in volcanic slopes of southern Italy
On the 4th and 5th of March 2005, about 100 rainfall-induced landslides occurred along volcanic slopes of Camaldoli Hill in Naples, Italy. These started as soil slips in the upper substratum of incoherent and welded volcaniclastic deposits, then evolved downslope according to debris avalanche and debris flow mechanisms. This specific case of slope instability on complex volcaniclastic...
Authors
F. Fusco, P. De Vita, Benjamin B. Mirus, Rex L. Baum, V. Allocca, R. Tufano, D. Calcaterra
Constraining parameter uncertainty in modeling debris-flow initiation during the September 2013 Colorado Front Range storm Constraining parameter uncertainty in modeling debris-flow initiation during the September 2013 Colorado Front Range storm
The occurrence of debris flows during the September 2013 northern Colorado floods took the emergency management community by surprise. The September 2013 debris flows in the Colorado Front Range initiated from shallow landslides in colluvium. Most occurred on south- and east-facing slopes on the walls of steep canyons in crystalline rocks and on sedimentary hogbacks. Previous studies...
Authors
Rex L. Baum, C.R. Scheevel, Eric S. Jones
Bayesian analysis of the impact of rainfall data product on simulated slope failure for North Carolina locations Bayesian analysis of the impact of rainfall data product on simulated slope failure for North Carolina locations
In the past decades, many different approaches have been developed in the literature to quantify the load-carrying capacity and geotechnical stability (or the Factor of Safety, F_s) of variably saturated hillslopes. Much of this work has focused on a deterministic characterization of hillslope stability. Yet, simulated F_s values are subject to considerable uncertainty due to our...
Authors
Soni Yatheendradas, Dalia Kirschbaum, Grey Nearing, Jasper A. Vrugt, Rex L. Baum, Rick Wooten, Ning Lu, Jonathan W. Godt
Field and laboratory hydraulic characterization of landslide-prone soils in the Oregon Coast Range and implications for hydrologic simulation Field and laboratory hydraulic characterization of landslide-prone soils in the Oregon Coast Range and implications for hydrologic simulation
Unsaturated zone flow processes are an important focus of landslide hazard estimation. Differences in soil hydraulic behavior between wetting and drying conditions (i.e., hydraulic hysteresis) may be important in landslide triggering. Hydraulic hysteresis can complicate soil hydraulic parameter estimates and impact prediction capability. This investigation focused on hydraulic property...
Authors
Brian A. Ebel, Jonathan W. Godt, Ning Lu, Jeffrey A. Coe, Joel B. Smith, Rex L. Baum
Science and Products
Landslides Can Cause More Landslides
Release Date: MAY 15, 2018 The deadliest individual landslides in the U.S. recently were in places where there had previously been a landslide. Why do landslides happen in the same place instead of on nearby slopes that appear to be just as likely, if not more likely, to slide?
Integrating Disparate Spatial Datasets from Local to National Scale for Open-Access Web-Based Visualization and Analysis: A Case Study Compiling U.S. Landslide Inventories
Spatial data on landslide occurrence across the U.S. varies greatly in quality, accessibility, and extent. This problem of data variability is common across USGS Mission Areas; it presents an obstacle to developing national-scale products and to identifying areas with relatively good/bad data coverage. We compiled available data of known landslides into a national-scale, searchable...
Reconstruction of an Avalanche: The West Salt Creek Rock Avalanche
Release Date: MAY 25, 2016 The West Salt Creek Rock Avalanche, Colorado, May 25, 2014
Filter Total Items: 18
REGOLITH--A Fortran 95 program for estimating soil mantle thickness in a digital landscape for landslide and debris-flow hazard assessment REGOLITH--A Fortran 95 program for estimating soil mantle thickness in a digital landscape for landslide and debris-flow hazard assessment
The computer program REGOLITH is a Fortran program designed for estimating soil thickness over a digital landscape. The program implements various published empirical and process-based models for soil thickness. This command-line program is used in conjunction with Python scripts to prepare input files and automate certain steps.
Map and model input and output data for the north Charlotte Creek Basin, Douglas County, Oregon, for analysis of debris-flow initiation resulting from the storm of November 17 - 19, 1996 Map and model input and output data for the north Charlotte Creek Basin, Douglas County, Oregon, for analysis of debris-flow initiation resulting from the storm of November 17 - 19, 1996
Heavy rainfall during mid-November 1996 induced debris flows throughout the southern Oregon Coast Range, including more than 150 in the immediate vicinity of north Charlotte Creek (Coe and others, 2011). Data in this project pertain to a 2.4-km2 area centered at N 43.65° and W 123.94° which an area where high concentrations of debris flows occurred. These data include a subset of a map...
Time-lapse photography of an active coastal-bluff landslide, Mukilteo, Washington, August 2015 - May 2016 Time-lapse photography of an active coastal-bluff landslide, Mukilteo, Washington, August 2015 - May 2016
A time-lapse camera was used to document periodic reactivation of a complex landslide on a steep coastal bluff in Mukilteo, Washington. This landslide is one of four monitoring sites initiated by the U.S Geological Survey to investigate hill-slope hydrology and landslide hazards affecting the railway corridor along the eastern shore of Puget Sound between the cities of Seattle and...
Map of slope-failure locations in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria Map of slope-failure locations in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria
In Puerto Rico, tens of thousands of landslides, slumps, debris flows, rock falls, and other slope failures were triggered by Hurricane Maria, which made landfall on 20 September 2017. "Landslide" is used here and below to represent all types of slope failures. This dataset is a point shapefile of landslide headscarps identified across Puerto Rico using georeferenced aerial and satellite...
Results of Hydrologic Monitoring on Landslide-prone Coastal Bluffs near Mukilteo, Washington Results of Hydrologic Monitoring on Landslide-prone Coastal Bluffs near Mukilteo, Washington
A hydrologic monitoring network was installed to investigate landslide hazards affecting the railway corridor along the eastern shore of Puget Sound between Seattle and Everett, near Mukilteo, Washington. During the summer of 2015, the U.S. Geological Survey installed instrumentation at four sites to measure rainfall and air temperature every 15 minutes. Two of the four sites are...
Results of Hydrologic Monitoring of a Landslide-Prone Hillslope in Portland's West Hills, Oregon, 2006-2017 Results of Hydrologic Monitoring of a Landslide-Prone Hillslope in Portland's West Hills, Oregon, 2006-2017
The West Hills of Portland, in the southern Tualatin Mountains, trend northwest along the west side of Portland, Oregon. These silt-mantled mountains receive significant wet-season precipitation and are prone to sliding during wet conditions, occasionally resulting in significant property damage or casualties. In an effort to develop a baseline for interpretive analysis of the...
Filter Total Items: 71
Progress and lessons learned from responses to landslide disasters Progress and lessons learned from responses to landslide disasters
Landslides have the incredible power to transform landscapes and also, tragically, to cause disastrous societal impacts. Whereas the mechanics and effects of many landslide disasters have been analyzed in detail, the means by which landslide experts respond to these events has garnered much less attention. Herein, we evaluate nine landslide response case histories conducted by the U.S...
Authors
Brian D. Collins, Mark E. Reid, Jeffrey A. Coe, Jason W. Kean, Rex L. Baum, Randall W. Jibson, Jonathan W. Godt, Stephen Slaughter, Greg M. Stock
Landslides across the United States: Occurrence, susceptibility, and data limitations Landslides across the United States: Occurrence, susceptibility, and data limitations
Detailed information about landslide occurrence is the foundation for advancing process understanding, susceptibility mapping, and risk reduction. Despite the recent revolution in digital elevation data and remote sensing technologies, landslide mapping remains resource intensive. Consequently, a modern, comprehensive map of landslide occurrence across the United States (USA) has not...
Authors
Benjamin B. Mirus, Eric S. Jones, Rex L. Baum, Jonathan W. Godt, Stephen L. Slaughter, Matthew Crawford, Jeremy T. Lancaster, Thomas Stanley, Dalia Kirschbaum, William J. Burns, Robert G. Schmitt, Kassandra O Lindsey, Kevin McCoy
Physically based estimation of rainfall thresholds triggering shallow landslides in volcanic slopes of southern Italy Physically based estimation of rainfall thresholds triggering shallow landslides in volcanic slopes of southern Italy
On the 4th and 5th of March 2005, about 100 rainfall-induced landslides occurred along volcanic slopes of Camaldoli Hill in Naples, Italy. These started as soil slips in the upper substratum of incoherent and welded volcaniclastic deposits, then evolved downslope according to debris avalanche and debris flow mechanisms. This specific case of slope instability on complex volcaniclastic...
Authors
F. Fusco, P. De Vita, Benjamin B. Mirus, Rex L. Baum, V. Allocca, R. Tufano, D. Calcaterra
Constraining parameter uncertainty in modeling debris-flow initiation during the September 2013 Colorado Front Range storm Constraining parameter uncertainty in modeling debris-flow initiation during the September 2013 Colorado Front Range storm
The occurrence of debris flows during the September 2013 northern Colorado floods took the emergency management community by surprise. The September 2013 debris flows in the Colorado Front Range initiated from shallow landslides in colluvium. Most occurred on south- and east-facing slopes on the walls of steep canyons in crystalline rocks and on sedimentary hogbacks. Previous studies...
Authors
Rex L. Baum, C.R. Scheevel, Eric S. Jones
Bayesian analysis of the impact of rainfall data product on simulated slope failure for North Carolina locations Bayesian analysis of the impact of rainfall data product on simulated slope failure for North Carolina locations
In the past decades, many different approaches have been developed in the literature to quantify the load-carrying capacity and geotechnical stability (or the Factor of Safety, F_s) of variably saturated hillslopes. Much of this work has focused on a deterministic characterization of hillslope stability. Yet, simulated F_s values are subject to considerable uncertainty due to our...
Authors
Soni Yatheendradas, Dalia Kirschbaum, Grey Nearing, Jasper A. Vrugt, Rex L. Baum, Rick Wooten, Ning Lu, Jonathan W. Godt
Field and laboratory hydraulic characterization of landslide-prone soils in the Oregon Coast Range and implications for hydrologic simulation Field and laboratory hydraulic characterization of landslide-prone soils in the Oregon Coast Range and implications for hydrologic simulation
Unsaturated zone flow processes are an important focus of landslide hazard estimation. Differences in soil hydraulic behavior between wetting and drying conditions (i.e., hydraulic hysteresis) may be important in landslide triggering. Hydraulic hysteresis can complicate soil hydraulic parameter estimates and impact prediction capability. This investigation focused on hydraulic property...
Authors
Brian A. Ebel, Jonathan W. Godt, Ning Lu, Jeffrey A. Coe, Joel B. Smith, Rex L. Baum