Image 1: Drawings labeled A through J representing 10 types of mass movements. http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2004/3072/images/Fig3grouping-2LG.jpg . There are many types of mass movements, ranging from hundreds of miles per hour to less than an inch per year, and from whole mountains to single grains of sand.
Image 2: Slide Mountain, Nevada. House buried beneath slide, only roof above surface. http://landslides.usgs.gov/html_files/landslides/slides/slide2.htm . Slide Mountain, Nevada. Snowmelt-triggered debris flow, May, 1983, killed one and injured several. USGS had publicly identified the hazard a decade earlier, but good science is often ignored.
Image 3: A car in the mud of a 1994 landslide near McClure Pass, Colorado. http://landslides.usgs.gov/html_files/landslides/slides/slide11.htm Photograph by Terry Taylor, Colorado State Patrol. Landslide near McClure Pass, Colorado, 1994. The driver did not see this nighttime slide in time to stop, but fortunately was not injured
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Image 4: 1995 Landslide under the only road to lodge of Zion National Park. http://landslides.usgs.gov/html_files/landslides/slides/slide19.htm . Photograph by R.L. Schuster, USGS Landslide under the only road to lodge of Zion National Park, April, 1995, stranded 100 people for two days. The broken sewer pipe, shown in lower part of photo, didn’t help.
Image 5: Aerial view of 1995 landslide at La Conchita, California along highway 101. http://landslides.usgs.gov/html_files/landslides/slides/slide21.htm . Photo by R.L. Schuster, U.S. Geological Survey. Spring, 1995 landslide at La Conchita, California, south of Santa Barbara along highway 101. Many homes were destroyed, but no one was injured.
Image 6: Home crumbled and destroyed by La Conchita, California slide. http://landslides.usgs.gov/html_files/landslides/slides/slide24.htm Photograph by R.L. Schuster, U.S. Geological Survey Home destroyed by La Conchita, California slide from previous picture.
Image 7: 1981 Winter Park, Florida sink hole opening. Car, truck and destroyed building in the sink hole. Caption: http://landslides.usgs.gov/html_files/landslides/slides/slide10.htm This is the Winter Park, Florida sinkhole, which opened in one day in 1981. We’ll return to sinkholes when we visit caves, which occur with sinkholes.
Image 8: Half-mile-high landslide scar, Tracy Arm/Ford’s-Terror Wilderness Area, Alaska. Caption: Half-mile-high landslide scar, Tracy Arm/Ford’s-Terror Wilderness Area, Alaska. Steep slopes caused by mountain building or rapid erosion (in this case, by glaciers) often fail catastrophically. A slide similar to this made the immense tsunami in nearby Lituya Bay that we discussed last week. Photo by R. Alley
Image 9: Landslide near Sitka, Alaska. Caption: Most landslides don’t make the news, such as this one near Sitka, Alaska. Photo by R. Alley.
Image 10: Numerous landslides on the mile-high, glacially carved cliffs in Milford Sound, New Zealand. Caption: Milford Sound, New Zealand. The numerous landslides down the mile-high, glacially carved cliffs give it the pretty, striped appearance. Photo by R. Alley.