Mud Creek
Mud Creek
In 2017, the massive Mud Creek landslide buried a quarter-mile of the famous coastal Highway 1 of California, with rocks and dirt more than 65 feet deep. As part of a research project to monitor erosion along the landslide-prone cliffs of Big Sur in central California, USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center scientists collected aerial photos before and after the slide, and during the construction project. By analyzing overlapping photos, they made precise maps of the slopes and calculated volumes of material lost or gained over time. Our researchers shared data and images with Caltrans to help ensure the safety of workers and the success of the road reconstruction.
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Remote Sensing Coastal Change
We use remote-sensing technologies—such as aerial photography, satellite imagery, structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry, and lidar (laser-based surveying)—to measure coastal change along U.S. shorelines.
The Mud Creek Landslide May 20 2017
On May 20, 2017, the steep slopes at Mud Creek on California’s Big Sur coast, about 140 miles south of San Francisco, suffered a catastrophic collapse. USGS scientists from the Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center and the Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center continue to monitor this section of the coastline, in collaboration with the California Department of Transportation...