Allegations: Oregon Not Forthcoming With Landslide Hazard Information
Geologic Hazards
Battle brewing over landslide damage to Macon County NC home
A home owner with a condemned piece of property containing a landslide scarp in his driveway contends that the landslide was caused by a developer excavating and blasting at the toe of the slope below […]
Geologic Hazards
Oso Landslide Update
The Oso Landslide death toll is now up to 29. This is one of the worst natural hazard disasters I can remember in recent times. First and foremost I think should be the memories of […]
Geologic Hazards
Slow Moving Landslide in North Salt Lake City Area
Residents of a neighborhood on the north side of Salt Lake City, Utah received some bad news recently from a state geologist. The slow moving landslide that has been moving on the order of several inches per year has begun moving at a faster rate. They predict movement on the order of feet per year. Several houses have already been condemned and torn down with more likely. Click through for some news footage showing the problem area and some of the damage to house foundations, sidewalks, pipes and other reactions from unfortunate residents. (Photo by KSL, NBC Salt Lake City affiliate)
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Clatskanie Landslide
Dear geo blogger,
My take on this slide is that the old railroad crossing or road crossing that held up the water for the Clatskanie Event on or about Jan 11, was not “put to bed”. The crossing should have been destroyed and the abutments pulled out of the channel. The slide volume and extent of travel of the subsequent debris flows would have been much smaller and shorter.
I served for a year as an ERFO Hydrologist at the Detroit Ranger Station, up the Santiam Canyon from Salem in 1997 and 1998. An about-to-retire civil engineer, Bill Day, used the “put to bed” term and practice. He also said something else that was useful, “it takes trees to be twenty years old or more before their root systems hold back natural landslides. The trees on the reforested property above the Clatskanie debris flow section were not that old.
I agree with Bill Burns and, to reinforce his statements, I like what he said about the recent spate of landslides.
John Rehm
Registered Geologist G1137
Salem, Oregon
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Note: This is a Opinion based on literature (Dryness, c. 1964), my MS Thesis published on the Rutgers University Geosciences website, and professional experience under registered engineer supervision by Bill Day (1997-1998 (just in case OSBGE is reading this)
Put to bed
Thanks for your insights John. I’ve never heard the term “put to bed” before, but I couldn’t agree with you more. And the factoid about tree root systems seems like a very useful rule of thumb. — Randy Post (aka Rockman)