A seismologist at the University of Tokyo believes that the monstrous tsunami that was responsible for so much damage and loss of life during the 2011 Fukushima earthquake may have been a result of a submarine landslide the size of Paris. The researchers reached their conclusion by back-analyzing the wave motion measurements from buoys on the day of the earthquake. After modeling the size and approximate location of the landslide, other team members were able to compare bathymetry data from before and after the earthquake to locate the slide. [Source: Read more at Science/AAAS. Image: The Science Show]
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Landslide Occurs in Residential La Jolla California
A landslide occured about 9am PT yesterday in a residential neighborhood of La Jolla, just north of San Diego. No injuries have been reported, but estimates are that 2,500 people are without either power or gas because of toppled power lines and ruptured gas lines. The Soledad Mountain Road is currently impassable. I’ll update this post as more information becomes available. In the mean time, check out some video and a location map after the break.
Geotechnical Engineering Challenges of British Columbia’s Sea-to-Sky Highway, gateway to the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games
I don’t know about you, but I’ve been enjoying watching the 2010 Olympic Winter games over the past few days. If you have, you know that Whistler is the venue for many of the sports including alpine skiing, luge, skeleton, bobsled, ski jumping, biathlon and cross-country skiing among others. The Whistler area is located about 50-miles or so North of Vancouver. In order to get to Whistler, you need to drive along Highway 99, better known as the Sea-to-Sky Highway. This highway has a long history of geotechnical problems, including some significant structurally controlled rockslides and landslides. In the years leading up to these Olympic Games a fair amount of work was done on the highway with some significant geotechnical innovations.