Introduction to Landslides and Mudflows Landslides occur in many parts of the country.

They are characterized by the down slope movement of rock, soil, or other debris. They can be triggered during earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, storm-generated ocean waves, or other landslides. Landslides also can result from freeze-thaw cycles, shrink-swell cycles, root wedging, animal burrows, natural erosion or deposition, or the thaw of ice-bearing soils such as permafrost. While most landslides are single events, more than one third of the cases are associated with heavy rains or the melting of winter snows. Increased housing development in landslide-prone areas increases the potential damage if a landslide occurs.

Cyclone

Polar low over the Barents Sea on February 27, 1987 In meteorology, a cyclone is an area of closed, circular fluid motion rotating in the same direction as the Earth.[1][2] This is usually characterized by inward spiraling winds that rotate counter clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere of the Earth. Most large-scale cyclonic circulations are centered on areas of low atmospheric pressure.[3][4] The largest low-pressure systems are cold-core polar cyclones and extratropical cyclones which lie on the synoptic scale. Warm-core cyclones such as tropical cyclones, mesocyclones, and polar lows lie within the smaller mesoscale. Subtropical cyclones are of

intermediate size.[5][6] Upper level cyclones can exist without the presence of a surface low, and can pinch off from the base of the Tropical Upper Tropospheric Trough during the summer months in the Northern Hemisphere. Cyclones have also been seen on other planets outside of the Earth, such as Mars and Neptune.[7][8] Cyclogenesis describes the process of cyclone formation and intensification.[9] Extratropical cyclones form as waves in large regions of enhanced midlatitude temperature contrasts called baroclinic zones. These zones contract to form weather fronts as the cyclonic circulation closes and intensifies. Later in their life cycle, cyclones occlude as cold core systems. A cyclone's track is guided over the course of its 2 to 6 day life cycle by the steering flow of the cancer or subtropical jet stream. Weather fronts separate two masses of air of different densities and are associated with the most prominent meteorological phenomena. Air masses separated by a front may differ in temperature or humidity. Strong cold fronts typically feature narrow bands of thunderstorms and severe weather, and may on occasion be preceded by squall lines or dry lines. They form west of the circulation center and generally move from west to east. Warm fronts form east of the cyclone center and are usually preceded by stratiform precipitation and fog. They move poleward ahead of the cyclone path. Occluded fronts form late in the cyclone life cycle near the center of the cyclone and often wrap around the storm center. Tropical cyclogenesis describes the process of development of tropical cyclones. Tropical cyclones form due to latent heat driven by significant thunderstorm activity, and are warm core.[10] Cyclones can transition between extratropical, subtropical, and tropical phases under the right conditions. Mesocyclones form as warm core cyclones over land, and can lead to tornado formation.[11] Waterspouts can also form from mesocyclones, but more often develop from environments of high instability and low vertical wind shear.[12]

Structure
There are a number of structural characteristics common to all cyclones. As they are low pressure areas, their center is the area of lowest atmospheric pressure in the region, often known in mature tropical cyclones as the eye.[13] Near the center, the pressure gradient force (from the pressure in the center of the cyclone compared to the pressure outside the cyclone) and the Coriolis force must be in an approximate balance, or the cyclone would collapse on itself as a result of the difference in pressure.[14] The wind flow around a large cyclone is counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern hemisphere as a result of the Coriolis effect.[15] (An anticyclone, on the other hand, rotates clockwise in the northern hemisphere, and counterclockwise in the southern hemisphere.)

Formation

The initial extratropical low pressure area forms at the location of the red dot on the image. It is usually perpendicular (at a right angle to) the leaf-like cloud formation seen on satellite during the early stage of cyclogenesis. The location of the axis of the upper level jet stream is in light blue. Main articles: Cyclogenesis and Tropical cyclogenesis Cyclogenesis is the development or strengthening of cyclonic circulation in the atmosphere (a low pressure area).[9] Cyclogenesis is an umbrella term for several different processes, all of which result in the development of some sort of cyclone. It can occur at various scales, from the microscale to the synoptic scale. Extratropical cyclones form as waves along weather fronts before occluding later in their life cycle as cold core cyclones. Tropical cyclones form due to latent heat driven by significant thunderstorm activity, and are warm core.[10] Mesocyclones form as warm core cyclones over land, and can lead to tornado formation.[11] Waterspouts can also form from mesocyclones, but more often develop from environments of high instability and low vertical wind shear.[12] Cyclogenesis is the opposite of cyclolysis, and has an anticyclonic (high pressure system) equivalent which deals with the formation of high pressure areasAnticyclogenesis.[16]

The surface low has a variety of ways of forming. Topography can force a surface low when dense low-level high pressure system ridges in east of a north-south mountain barrier.[17] Mesoscale convective systems can spawn surface lows which are initially warm core.[18] The disturbance can grow into a wave-like formation along the front and the low will be positioned at the crest. Around the low, flow will become cyclonic, by definition. This rotational flow will push polar air equatorward west of the low via its trailing cold front, and warmer air with push poleward low via the warm front. Usually the cold front will move at a quicker pace than the warm front and catch up with it due to the slow erosion of higher density airmass located out ahead of the cyclone and the higher density airmass sweeping in behind the cyclone, usually resulting in a narrowing warm sector.[19] At this point an occluded front forms where the warm air mass is pushed upwards into a trough of warm air aloft, which is also known as a trowal. [20]

Tropical cyclones form when the energy released by the condensation of moisture in rising air causes a positive feedback loop over warm ocean waters.[21] Tropical cyclogenesis is the technical term describing the development and strengthening of a tropical cyclone in the atmosphere.[22] The mechanisms through which tropical cyclogenesis occurs are distinctly different from those through which mid-latitude cyclogenesis occurs. Tropical cyclogenesis involves the development of a warm-core cyclone, due to significant convection in a favorable atmospheric environment. There are six main requirements for tropical cyclogenesis: sufficiently warm sea surface temperatures, atmospheric instability, high humidity in the lower to middle levels of the troposphere, enough Coriolis force to develop a low pressure center, a preexisting low level focus or disturbance, and low vertical wind shear.[23] An average of 86 tropical cyclones of tropical storm intensity form annually worldwide, with 47 reaching hurricane/typhoon strength, and 20 becoming intense tropical cyclones (at least Category 3 intensity on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale).[24]

Surface-based types
There are six main types of cyclones: Polar cyclones, Polar lows, Extratropical cyclones, Subtropical cyclones, Tropical cyclones, and Mesocyclones

Polar cyclone
A polar, sub-polar, or Arctic cyclone (also known as a polar vortex)[25] is a vast area of low pressure which strengthens in the winter and weakens in the summer.[26] A polar cyclone is a

low pressure weather system, usually spanning 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) to 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi), in which the air circulates in a counterclockwise direction in the northern hemisphere, and a clockwise direction in the southern hemisphere. In the Northern Hemisphere, the polar cyclone has two centers on average. One center lies near Baffin Island and the other over northeast Siberia.[25] In the southern hemisphere, it tends to be located near the edge of the Ross ice shelf near 160 west longitude.[27] When the polar vortex is strong, westerly flow descends to the Earth's surface. When the polar cyclone is weak, significant cold outbreaks occur.[28]

Polar low
A polar low is a small-scale, short-lived atmospheric low pressure system (depression) that is found over the ocean areas poleward of the main polar front in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. During winter, when cold-core lows with temperatures in the midlevels of the troposphere reach 45 C (49 F) move over open waters, deep convection forms which allows polar low development to become possible.[29] The systems usually have a horizontal length scale of less than 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) and exist for no more than a couple of days. They are part of the larger class of mesoscale weather systems. Polar lows can be difficult to detect using conventional weather reports and are a hazard to high-latitude operations, such as shipping and gas and oil platforms. Polar lows have been referred to by many other terms, such as polar mesoscale vortex, Arctic hurricane, Arctic low, and cold air depression. Today the term is usually reserved for the more vigorous systems that have nearsurface winds of at least 17 m/s.[30]

[edit] Extratropical

A fictitious synoptic chart of an extratropical cyclone affecting the UK and Ireland. The blue arrows between isobars indicate the direction of the wind, while the "L" symbol denotes the centre of the "low". Note the occluded, cold and warm frontal boundaries. Main article: Extratropical cyclone

An extratropical cyclone is a synoptic scale low pressure weather system that has neither tropical nor polar characteristics, being connected with fronts and horizontal gradients in temperature and dew point otherwise known as "baroclinic zones".[31] The descriptor "extratropical" refers to the fact that this type of cyclone generally occurs outside of the tropics, in the middle latitudes of the planet. These systems may also be described as "mid-latitude cyclones" due to their area of formation, or "post-tropical cyclones" where extratropical transition has occurred,[31][32] and are often described as "depressions" or "lows" by weather forecasters and the general public. These are the everyday phenomena which along with anti-cyclones, drive the weather over much of the Earth. Although extratropical cyclones are almost always classified as baroclinic since they form along zones of temperature and dewpoint gradient within the westerlies, they can sometimes become barotropic late in their life cycle when the temperature distribution around the cyclone becomes fairly uniform with radius.[33] An extratropical cyclone can transform into a subtropical storm, and from there into a tropical cyclone, if it dwells over warm waters and develops central convection, which warms its core.[10]

[edit] Subtropical

Subtropical Storm Andrea in 2007 Main article: Subtropical cyclone A subtropical cyclone is a weather system that has some characteristics of a tropical cyclone and some characteristics of an extratropical cyclone. They can form between the equator and the 50th parallel.[34] As early as the 1950s, meteorologists were unclear whether they should be characterized as tropical cyclones or extratropical cyclones, and used terms such as quasitropical and semi-tropical to describe the cyclone hybrids.[35] By 1972, the National Hurricane Center officially recognized this cyclone category.[36] Subtropical cyclones began to receive names off the official tropical cyclone list in the Atlantic Basin in 2002.[34] They have broad wind patterns with maximum sustained winds located farther from the center than typical tropical cyclones, and exist in areas of weak to moderate temperature gradient.[34]

Since they form from initially extratropical cyclones which have colder temperatures aloft than normally found in the tropics, the sea surface temperatures required for their formation are lower than the tropical cyclone threshold by three degrees Celsius, or five degrees Fahrenheit, lying around 23 degrees Celsius.[37] This means that subtropical cyclones are more likely to form outside the traditional bounds of the hurricane season. Although subtropical storms rarely have hurricane-force winds, they may become tropical in nature as their cores warm.[38]

[edit] Tropical

Cyclone Catarina, a rare South Atlantic tropical cyclone viewed from the International Space Station on March 26, 2004 Main article: Tropical cyclone A tropical cyclone is a storm system characterized by a low pressure center and numerous thunderstorms that produce strong winds and flooding rain. A tropical cyclone feeds on heat released when moist air rises, resulting in condensation of water vapour contained in the moist air. They are fueled by a different heat mechanism than other cyclonic windstorms such as nor'easters, European windstorms, and polar lows, leading to their classification as "warm core" storm systems.[10] The term "tropical" refers to both the geographic origin of these systems, which form almost exclusively in tropical regions of the globe, and their formation in Maritime Tropical air masses. The term "cyclone" refers to such storms' cyclonic nature, with counterclockwise rotation in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise rotation in the Southern Hemisphere. Depending on their location and strength, tropical cyclones are referred to by other names, such as hurricane, typhoon, tropical storm, cyclonic storm, tropical depression, or simply as a cyclone. A tropical cyclone is generally referred to as a hurricane (from the name of the ancient Central American deity of wind, Huracan) in the Atlantic basin, and a cyclone in the Indian Ocean and parts of the Pacific. While tropical cyclones can produce extremely powerful winds and torrential rain, they are also able to produce high waves and damaging storm surge.[39] They develop over large bodies of warm water,[40] and lose their strength if they move over land.[41] This is the reason coastal regions can receive significant damage from a tropical cyclone, while inland regions are

relatively safe from receiving strong winds. Heavy rains, however, can produce significant flooding inland, and storm surges can produce extensive coastal flooding up to 40 kilometres (25 mi) from the coastline. Although their effects on human populations can be devastating, tropical cyclones can also relieve drought conditions.[42] They also carry heat and energy away from the tropics and transport it toward temperate latitudes, which makes them an important part of the global atmospheric circulation mechanism. As a result, tropical cyclones help to maintain equilibrium in the Earth's troposphere. Many tropical cyclones develop when the atmospheric conditions around a weak disturbance in the atmosphere are favorable. Others form when other types of cyclones acquire tropical characteristics. Tropical systems are then moved by steering winds in the troposphere; if the conditions remain favorable, the tropical disturbance intensifies, and can even develop an eye. On the other end of the spectrum, if the conditions around the system deteriorate or the tropical cyclone makes landfall, the system weakens and eventually dissipates. A tropical cyclone can become extratropical as it moves toward higher latitudes if its energy source changes from heat released by condensation to differences in temperature between air masses;[10] From an operational standpoint, a tropical cyclone is usually not considered to become subtropical during its extratropical transition.[43]

[edit] Mesocyclone

Cyclone on Mars, imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope Main article: Mesocyclone A mesocyclone is a vortex of air, approximately 2.0 kilometres (1.2 mi) to 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) in diameter (the mesoscale of meteorology), within a convective storm.[44] Air rises and rotates around a vertical axis, usually in the same direction as low pressure systems in both northern and southern hemisphere. They are most often cyclonic, that is, associated with a localized lowpressure region within a severe thunderstorm.[45] Such storms can feature strong surface winds and severe hail. Mesocyclones often occur together with updrafts in supercells, where tornadoes may form. About 1700 mesocyclones form annually across the United States, but only half produce tornadoes.[11] Cyclones are not unique to Earth. Cyclonic storms are common on Jovian planets, like the Small Dark Spot on Neptune. Also known as the Wizard's Eye, it is about one third the diameter of the Great Dark Spot. It received the name "Wizard's Eye" because it looks like an eye. This

appearance is caused by a white cloud in the middle of the Wizard's Eye.[8] Mars has also exhibited cyclonic storms.[7] Jovian storms like the Great Red Spot are usually mistakenly named as giant hurricanes or cyclonic storms. However, this is inaccurate, as the Great Red Spot is, in fact, the inverse phenomenon, an anticyclone.[46]

Upper level types

TUTT cell
Under specific circumstances, upper cold lows can break off from the base of the Tropical Upper Tropospheric Trough (TUTT), which is located mid-ocean in the Northern Hemisphere during the summer months. These upper tropospheric cyclonic vortices, also known as TUTT cells or TUTT lows, usually move slowly from east-northeast to west-southwest, and generally do not extend below 20,000 feet in altitude. A weak inverted surface trough within the trade wind is generally found underneath them, and they may also be associated with broad areas of high-level clouds. Downward development results in an increase of cumulus clouds and the appearance of a surface vortex. In rare cases, they become warm-core, resulting in the vortex becoming a tropical cyclone. Upper cyclones and upper troughs which trail tropical cyclones can cause additional outflow channels and aid in their intensification process. Developing tropical disturbances can help create or deepen upper troughs or upper lows in their wake due to the outflow jet emanating from the developing tropical disturbance/cyclone

Landslides

Damage To Homes By Landslides

WHAT ARE LANDSLIDES?

What Are Landslides? Landslides are rock, earth, or debris flows on slopes due to gravity. They can occur on any terrain given the right conditions of soil, moisture, and the angle of slope. Integral to the natural process of the earth's surface geology, landslides serve to redistribute soil and sediments in a process that can be in abrupt collapses or in slow gradual slides. Such is the nature of the earth's surface dynamics. Also known as mud flows, debris flows, earth failures, slope failures, etc., they can be triggered by rains, floods, earthquakes, and other natural causes as well as human-made causes, such as grading, terrain cutting and filling, excessive development, etc. Because the factors affecting landslides can be geophysical or human-made, they can occur in developed areas, undeveloped areas, or any area where the terrain was altered for roads, houses, utilities, buildings, and even for lawns in one's backyard. They occur in all fifty states with varying frequency and more than half the states have rates sufficient to be classified as a significant natural hazard. The U.S. Geological Survey, working with other federal agencies, has efforts underway to study, plan, and mitigate landslide risks. So have some communities across the country. Many deal with landslides as part of flood control, erosion control, hillside management, earthquake hazard mitigation, road stabilization, and other programs. Perhaps the most common reminders of landslide risks are those "Watch For Falling Rocks" highway signs. Although "sliding rocks" is more apt, very few get to see a land slide. Occasionally we see small rocks or debris on the pavement, but a large size slide usually starts with such small incidents. Visually, a landslide resembles a snow avalanche, only with a louder rumbling noise, and is capable of generating enough force and momentum to wipe anything in its path. One such devastating landslide wiped entire towns and villages in Columbia in 1985 when 20,000 died. The pictures you see on this web site (including the background of this page), are recent examples from around the country. They show what's left after a slide. In some cases, only the rail or pavement is mangled, in others a house or building crushed, but in almost every

aftermath, the losses are real, the damages total, and the terrain changes permanent. Landslides cause one to two billion dollars in damage each year in the US and claim as many as fifty lives. That's more devastating than all the other natural hazards combined. They affect utilities, transportation, and all other forms of infrastructure, whether public or private. As development pressures around the country increase, so does the likelihood of building in areas susceptible to landslides. Such areas are neither isolated nor far in-between. They span the entire eastern part of US, from New England to the Appalachian region encompassing some of the most scenic areas in the east as well as large urban areas. Landslide risks loom through them all. Pittsburgh and Cincinnati are two examples of urbanized areas with frequent landslides where developments on hills and hillsides are common. In the Great Plains, heavy rains combined with loss of vegetation due to wildfires trigger landslides in clay-rich rocky areas. On the west coast, earthquakes add to the causes of landslides. For example, the 1994 Northridge earthquake triggered many thousand landslides in the Santa Susanna Mountains. In short, no region of the country is safe from landslides, whether caused by geophysical or human-made factors. Although the term landslide is often used somewhat loosely to mean any fairly rapid movement of rocks and sediment downslope, it is actually more accurate to use the term mass wasting to refer to the wide variety of mass movement processes that wear away at the Earth's surface.

What Factors Affect The Mass Wasting Process?

There are three main factors that control the type and rate of mass wasting that might occur at the Earth's surface: Slope gradient: The steeper the slope of the land, the more likely that mass wasting will occur. Slope consolidation: Sediments and fractured or poorly cemented rocks and sediments are weak, and more prone to mass wasting. Water: If slope materials are saturated with water, they may lose cohesion and flow easily.

What Kinds Of Mass Wasting Processes Do We See?

There are three basic types of mass wasting: Falls - rocks fall or bounce through the air Slides - rock and/or sediment slides along Earth's surface Flows - sediment flows across Earth's surface

FALLS
While driving your vehicle through mountain country, such as parts of eastern California, you may have noticed signs such as: WARNING! ROCK FALL HAZARD. Because weathering is an ongoing process, steep mountain slopes are constantly wasting away, often in the form of rocks falling and bouncing down slopes. Such falls can be triggered by freezing of water, the growth of plants (and their roots), earthquakes, or by people hiking on the slope. Rock falls occur in just a matter of seconds, so they are difficult (though fun) to observe. But, you can tell where rock falls occur on a mountain slope by looking for talus, a buildup of loose, angular rocks at the base of a steep slope. Typically cone-shaped, these piles of rock debris are found at the base of the San Gabriel and San Bernardino Mountain systems, the former almost within view of the 210 freeway (on a clear day, of course!). For those of you who may have some difficulty in finding the talus slopes, take a look below:

Again, note the cone shape of the talus slope.

SLIDES
Whenever a mass of slope material moves as a coherent block , we say that a slide has taken place. There are several types of slides, but one of the most common is a slump. A slump occurs when a portion of hillside moves downslope under the influence of gravity. A slump has a characteristic shape, with a scarp or cliff at the top of the slump, and a bulge of material (often called the toe of the slump) at the base of the slump. In the image shown below, see if you can spot the location of the scarp and toe of the slump.

What is particularly interesting about this slump picture is that it was taken in the year 1907 in the Berkeley Hills just east of San Francisco. Needless to say, this area has now been built up. Houses probably now stand where the slump took place. Question: Do you think that the danger of slumping is over for the Berkeley Hills region, now that it has been built up? Has the danger perhaps increased? What factors might increase the risk of slumping in areas such as the Berkeley Hills, or the Palos Verdes Peninsula and Pacific Palisades regions? For those of you wondering where the scarp and toe of the slide might be, check out the image shown below.

FLOWS
We say that a flow has occurred if the material moving downslope is being transported as a very thick fluid (like a river of debris, rock, and/or soil), rather than as a coherent unit. Often, water is the primary transport agent for the flow.

Lahars
For sheer drama and destruction, you can't beat the mud flows that can occur when a volcano erupts. These flows are called lahars. After the Mount St. Helens eruption, for example, the heat of the volcanic products melted the snowcap. The resulting liquid water rushed down the volcano flanks, incorporating debris as it progressed. The damage to forests and humans was extensive.

Look at that mudline -- up to the window!

Imagine what would have happened, though, if Mt. St. Helens had been closer to major urban centers, such as Seattle, Washington, or Portland, Oregon. The eruption at Mount Pinatubo, in the Philippines, was an instance where a volcano erupted close to a densely populated area. Luckily, geologists had predicted that the eruption would occur, and were able to advise a timely evacuation of the region.

In this aerial view, you can see the destruction of a bridge by a lahar from Mount Pinatubo. The white dots, by the way, are humans crossing makeshift bridges over the river.

Areas That Are Generally Prone To Landslides

On existing landslides, old or recent On or at the base or top of slopes In or at the base of minor drainage hollows At the base or top of an old fill slope At the base or top of a steep cut slope

Areas That Are Generally Safe From Landslides

On hard, non-jointed bedrock that has not moved in the past On relatively flat-lying areas away from slopes and steep river banks At the top or along the nose of ridges, set back from the tops of slopes

Features That Might Be Noticed Before Major Landslides

Springs, seeps, or saturated ground in areas that have not typically been wet before New cracks or unusual bulges in the ground, street pavements or sidewalks Soil moving away from foundations Ancillary structures such as decks and patios tilting and/or moving relative to the main house Tilting or cracking of concrete floors and foundations Broken water lines and other underground utilities Leaning telephone poles, trees, retaining walls or fences Offset fence lines Sunken or down-dropped road beds Sudden decrease in creek water levels though rain is still falling or just recently stopped. Sticking doors and windows, and visible open spaces indicating jambs and frames out of plumb

What To Do If You Suspect Immediate Landslide Danger

Contact your local fire, police or public works department Inform affected neighbors Leave the area quickly

If You Live Near Steep Hills

Before Intense Storms

Become familiar with the land around you. Learn whether landslides or debris flows have occurred in your area by contacting local officials, state geological surveys or

departments of natural resources, USGS maps, and university departments of geology. Slopes where landslides or debris flows have occurred in the past are likely to experience them in the future. Support your local government in efforts to develop and enforce land-use and building ordinances that regulate construction in areas susceptible to landslides and debris flows. Buildings should be located away from known landslides, debris flows, steep slopes, streams and rivers, intermittent-stream channels, and the mouths of mountain channels. Watch the patterns of storm-water drainage on slopes near your home, and note especially the places were runoff water converges, increasing flow over soil-covered slopes. Watch the hillsides around your home for any signs of land movement, such as small landslides or debris flows or progressively tilting trees. Contact your local authorities to learn about the emergency response and evacuation plans for your area, and develop your own emergency plans for your family and business.

During Intense Storms

Stay alert and stay awake! Many landslide and debris flow fatalities occur when people are sleeping. Listen to a radio for warnings of intense rainfall. Be aware that intense short bursts of rain may be particularly dangerous, especially after longer periods of heavy rainfall and damp weather. Listen for any unusual sounds that might indicate moving debris, such as trees cracking or boulders knocking together. A trickle of flowing or falling mud or debris may precede larger landslides. If you are near a stream or channel, be alert for any sudden increase or decrease in water flow. Such changes may indicate landslide activity upstream, so be prepared to move quickly. Don't delay! Save yourself, not your belongings. If you are in areas susceptible to landslides and debris flows, consider leaving if it is safe to do so. If you remain at home, move to a part of the house farthest away from the source of the landslide or debris flows, such as an upper floor, but keep an escape route open should it become necessary to leave the house. Be especially alert when driving. Embankments along roadsides are particularly susceptible to landslides. Watch the road for collapsed pavement, mud, fallen rocks, and other indications of possible landslides or debris flows.

After Intense Storms

Keep looking for signs that the land is moving. Landslides can occur weeks or months after intense storms.

DID YOU KNOW...

The most expensive landslide in U.S. history occurred in Thistle, Utah, in spring, 1983. It reached 1/2 miles from top to bottom and ranged in width from 1,000 feet to about 1 mile. Total costs attributable to the landslide exceeded $500 million. Landsliding in the United States is estimated to cause an annual loss of about $1.5 billion and at least 25 fatalities. The Loma Prieta earthquake in October 1989 triggered thousands of landslides throughout an area of 5,400 square miles. In addition to causing at least tens of millions of dollars of damage to houses, other structures, and utilities, landslides blocked many transportation routes, greatly hampering rescue and relief efforts. Mudflows tend to flow in channels, but will often spread out over a floodplain. They generally occur in places where they have occurred before.

FACT SHEET: LANDSLIDES AND MUDFLOWS

Landslide and mudflows usually strike without warning. The force of rocks, soil, or other debris moving down a slope can devastate anything in its path. Take the following steps to be ready. BEFORE Get a ground assessment of your property. Your county geologist or county planning department may have specific information on areas vulnerable to landsliding. Consult a professional geotechnical expert for opinions and advice on landslide problems and on corrective measures you can take. Minimize home hazards.

Plant ground cover on slopes and build retaining walls. In mudflow areas, build channels or deflection walls to direct the flow around buildings. Remember: If you build walls to divert debris flow and the flow lands on a neighbor's property, you may be liable for damages.

Learn to recognize the landslide warning signs.

Doors or windows stick or jam for the first time. New cracks appear in plaster, tile, brick, or foundations. Outside walls, walks, or stairs begin pulling away from the building. Slowly developing, widening cracks appear on the ground or on paved areas such as streets or driveways. Underground utility lines break. Bulging ground appears at the base of a slope.

Water breaks through the ground surface in new locations. Fences, retaining walls, utility poles, or trees tilt or move. You hear a faint rumbling sound that increases in volume as the landslide nears.The ground slopes downward in one specific direction and may begin shifting in that direction under your feet.

Make evacuation plans. Plan at least two evacuation routes since roads may become blocked or closed. Develop an emergency communication plan. In case family members are separated from one another during a landslide or mudflow this is (a real possibility during the day when adults are at work and children are at school), have a plan for getting back together. Ask an out-of-state relative or friend to serve as the "family contact". After a disaster, it's often easier to call long distance. Make sure everyone knows the name, address, and phone number of the contact person. DURING

If inside a building:

Stay inside. Take cover under a desk, table, or other piece of sturdy furniture.

If outdoors:

Try and get out of the path of the landslide or mudflow. Run to the nearest high ground in a direction away from the path. If rocks and other debris are approaching, run for the nearest shelter such as a group of trees or a building. If escape is not possible, curl into a tight ball and protect your head.

Sinkholes A sinkhole occurs when groundwater dissolves a vulnerable land surface such as limestone, causing the land surface to collapse from a lack of support. In June 1993, a 100-foot wide, 25foot deep sinkhole formed under a hotel parking lot in Atlanta, killing two people and engulfing numerous cars. AFTER

Stay away from the slide area. There may be danger of additional slides. Check for injured and trapped persons near the slide area. Give first aid if trained.

Remember to help your neighbors who may require special assistance--infants, elderly people, and people with disabilities. Listen to a battery-operated radio or television for the latest emergency information. Remember that flooding may occur after a mudflow or a landslide. Check for damaged utility lines. Report any damage to the utility company. Check the building foundation, chimney, and surrounding land for damage. Replant damaged ground as soon as possible since erosion caused by loss of ground cover can lead to flash flooding. Seek the advice of geotechnical expert for evaluating landslide hazards or designing corrective techniques to reduce landslide risk.

Landslide Damage

CONCLUSION
SHALSTAB is a physically-based digital terrain model for mapping the relative shallow slope stability potential across a landscape. Extensive testing of the model and application in practical contexts suggest that the model can be successfully used to delineate observed landslide scar locations and provides an objective procedure for delineating future potential sites of instability. It can be used as a parameter free model in which the only decision is how to rank the mapped pattern of relative stability into such categories as "high", "medium" and "low" for the practical purpose of prescribing some land management practice. This utility is accomplished by eliminating many processes or factors that do matter to slope instability but require too much local parameterization to be useful in a practical context for application over large areas. Hence, this model only routes water through the landscape at steady state, rather than dynamically modeling storm events. It is the underlying hypothesis here, seemingly well supported with observation, that the overriding influence of topography on the local evolution of a perched water table, permits the steady state model to emulate the effects of dynamic storm response. This is not to say that dynamic modeling of landscape response to storms is not a valuable enterprise. Furthermore, the model does not consider the effects of root strength on slope stability. The assumption here is that the model is capturing the condition of low root strength that would occur after cutting, disease and death, or a fire, and that shallow landslides are still most commonly associated with steep, high drainage area sites. Again, comparison of the model with mapped landslide scars supports this assumption in general, although many local cases will differ. The most important practical decision in using the model (after selecting a topographic base) is how to categorize the relative slope stability rating into hazard ratings that invoke specific landuse prescriptions, including the possibility of no harvest zones in forests. In the end it is unrealistic in most settings to set the log (q/T) threshold such that all mapped landslide scars are part of the high zone. Compromise about perceived risk is necessary and there should be the expectation that the spatial pattern of risk will change with intensive field work or improved topographic information. Useful extensions to the model already exist and more are anticipated. We have developed the code to include root cohesion by using a spatially constant soil depth. This permits using field data on root strength as influenced by forest practices to illustrate the possible controls on pattern of hillslope instability. We have called this model SHALSTAB.C and a description will soon be made available. A more advance model, reported by Dietrich et al. (1995), employs a process-based soil production and transport model to predict soil depth in order to use that outcome in a model of slope instability that includes root strength and vertically varying saturated hydraulic conductivity. This model we now call SHALSTAB.V. Both models add insight about causality, but require parameterization that the base model was designed to avoid.

With high resolution topographic data, the addition of cohesion can greatly reduce the area considered to be in the highest slope stability category. We have also developed a debris flow runout algorithm for use in the contour-based version of SHALSTAB (Montgomery and Dietrich, 1994). This model is being converted to a gridbased model and will be called SHALSTAB.D. In the next several years we also anticipate significant improvements in the quality of the base maps that drive digital terrain models. We have illustrated here how SHALSTAB works using one such data set derived from laser altimetry. It is technologically possible now to generate such maps for large areas. With such maps, landslide hazard delineation will be much improved and so too will many other things we wish to infer, model or route from digital terrain data. Finally, SHALSTAB is freely available to all who wish to use it. One can either take the equation (7) and write a program to calculate area and slope (as Pack and Tarboton have done) or one can obtain a copy of the model from the authors, as several government agencies have done. To our delight, we have found that the model is sufficiently easy to use (and free of parameters) that we have received very few questions regarding its application. We strongly encourage all who use this model to test it with observations on observed patterns of shallow slope instability and that if the model is used for prescriptions, that subsequent landsliding be mapped to test for effectiveness of the prescriptions. While the model can be used without testing, it is in the testing that one learns much about the landscape.