Publications

Landslides historically have caused severe erosion problems in the Xiao River drainage region of northeastern Yunnan Province, China, that hence resulted in serious economic and social consequences. Owing to monsoonal storms of high rainfall intensity, the erosion potential is high in this mountainous, seismically active region. Landslides transported large quantities of materials into the ravines

No abstract available.

A real-time system for issuing warnings of landslides during major storms is being developed for the San Francisco Bay region, California. The system is based on empirical and theoretical relations between rainfall and landslide initiation, geologic determination of areas susceptible to landslides, real-time monitoring of a regional network of telemetering rain gages, and National Weather Service

Simple ground-water flow analyses can clarify complex empirical relations between rainfall and landslide motion. Here we present detailed data on rainfall, ground-water flow, and repetitive seasonal motion that occurred from 1982 to 1985 at Minor Creek landslide in northwestern California, and we interpret these data in the context of physically based theories. We find that landslide motion is clo

No abstract available.

The slopes above streams and rivers are subjected to a variety of processes that cause them to recede and retreat from the river or stream channel. These processes, collectively called mass wasting, can be classified according to rapidity of movement and according to the type of materials that are transported. Gravity is the force behind all such downslope movement. Factors that enable the force o

The most common types of mass movements that form landslide dams are rock and soil slumps and slides; mud, debris, and earth flows: and rock and debris avalanches. The most common initiation mechanisms for dam-forming landslides are excessive rainfall and snow melt, and earthquakes. Most landslide dams are remarkable short-lived. In a sample of 63 documented cases, 22 percent of the landslide dams

Annual losses in the United States, Japan, Italy, and India have been estimated at 1 billion or more each. During the period 1971-74, nearly 600 people per year were killed by landslides worldwide; about 90 percent of these deaths occurred in the Circum-Pacific region. From 1967-82, 150 people per year died in Japan as a result of slope failures. In the United States, the number of landslide-relat

Many techniques are available for reducing landslide hazards; 27 are described in this paper. Prerequisites for the successful use of these techniques are hazard information understandable to nongeologists and adequate communication of this information to those who will, or are required to, use it. It is concluded that certain factors needed to ensure the lasting effectiveness of these techniques

The collapse of the north face of Mount St. Helens on May 18, 1980, and the debris avalanche that resulted blocked outflow from Spirit Lake and Coldwater and South Fork Castle Creeks. Spirit Lake began to increase in size and lakes began to form in the canyons of Coldwater and South Fork Castle Creeks. Coldwater and Castle Lakes would have overtopped their respective blockages in late 1981 or earl

We have produced a regional seismic slope-stability map and a probabilistic prediction of landslide distribution from a postulated earthquake. For liquefaction-induced landslides, in situ measurements of seismically induced pore-water pressures have been used to establish an elastic model of pore pressure generation. -from Authors

No abstract available.