Allegations: Oregon Not Forthcoming With Landslide Hazard Information
Geologic Hazards
Landslide Closes SR 14 in Utah
A large landslide has closed SR 14 east of Cedar City, Utah. UDOT expects that the road will be closed for up to 2 weeks for cleanup and to ensure that the slope is safe. Boulders up to an estimated 20 tons are now blocking the road and will likely need to be blasted down to a smaller size. A UDOT spokesman interviewed on the video shown after the break estimate the size of the slide at 700 to 800-ft long and 10 to 12-ft thick.
Geologic Hazards
Sichuan Earthquake Update
[Updated May 30, 2008] I forgot to publish this post to the front page, whoops! The two links still have excellent information. In particular, Dave’s Landslide Blog has coverage of the many landslide lakes and the efforts to breach some of them. [/Update]
The latest numbers according to AFP, Worldwide News Agency, is 71,000 dead, missing or buried and over 5 million homeless. There were many victims that were buried by landslides and rockfall. In the past few days 200 rescue workers have been buried by mudslides.
For more coverage on landslides related to the earthquake, I recommend Dave’s Landslide Blog. Geology.com also has very comprehensive coverage as well. (AFP Photo)
Geologic Hazards
Bute Inlet Landslide and Tsunami in BC
A massive November 2020 landslide and glacial lake outburst near Bute Inlet in BC created a seismic signal equivalent to a 4.9 magnitude earthquake! On November 28, 2020, at about 6 a.m., approximately 18.5 million […]
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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)