A 300 foot wide frozen debris flow has been moving towards an important Alaska highway and the Trans-Alaska pipeline at a rate of about 1-cm per day…and it seems to be accelerating. The ‘Frozen Debris Lobe’ as it is referred to by some researchers is now abot 150 feet from the highway, the pipeline is another 700 feet past that. This is a fascinating problem, and one that poses a real threat to the transportation and oil infrastructure of Alaska. But it seems like it will be playing out in slow motion over the coming years. [Source: ADN.com. Image: Guido Grosse / ADN.com]
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Allegations: Oregon Not Forthcoming With Landslide Hazard Information
Folks in Oregon are angry about a recent landslide and debris flow that closed Highway 30 and destroyed property in the town of Woodson. (Here is a powerpoint presentation by Bill Burns of the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries showing how the event happened). Some rather stinging allegations are being made that politicians withdrew a landslide hazard map from general use in 2002 for political reasons. That map or another one had characterized the area effected by the December 2007 debris flow as a "very high" or "extreme" risk of landslides. A very interesting article.
Geologic Hazard Photos
The National Geodetic Data Center (NGDC) of NOAA has an online collection of photos of various geologic hazards. Many of the photos are from older sets of 35mm slides that have been digitized. They are free to use provided you credit the photographer and the NGDC as the source. The would be really useful for educators and for powerpoint presentations. The only drawback is that they are in TIF format and some of them could use some retouching. (Photo by University of Colorado, made available by NOAA/NGDC)