This is a very nice little article on the geomorphology of the Mississippi River for the layman. But it was definitely the geologic map that caught my eye. Isn’t it great? Probably nice enough to hang on your wall. [Source: Scienceline. Image: Scienceline]
The Utah Geologic Survey has released a "Landslide Susceptibility Map of Utah". They apparently relied quite heavily on GIS based thresholding of existing slope angles but only after they had statistically analyzed failure angles for particular geologic units. So it sounds like they throw the known landslides, the geologic map of Utah and a DEM into the GIS a blend it all up. Perhaps a slight oversimplification!
In Sichuan Province, China, they were still in the recovery process from the devastating 2008 earthquake when a series of landslides, rockfall, mudslides and flooding has hit the region. Dave’s Landslide Blog has excellent coverage as usual on the slide pictured here, which blocked a major road, hindering rescue efforts. (Photo Xinhua/Jiang Hongjing)
A remarkable video of the aftermath of a bridge destroyed by one of these rockfall / landslide events is shown below. The destruction is pretty profound. (Via Geology.com)
Also on Dave’s blog, a landslide in Guangxi caused a train to derail, killing 4 people and injuring 50. My heart truly goes out to the people of those portions of China, particularly in Sichuan as they have been through so much.
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