Shallow landslide hazard map of Seattle, Washington

Reviews in Engineering Geology
By: , and 

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Abstract

Landslides, particularly debris flows, have long been a significant cause of damage and destruction to people and property in the Puget Sound region. Following the years of 1996 and 1997, the Federal Emergency Management Agency designated Seattle as a “Project Impact” city with the goal of encouraging the city to become more disaster resistant to landslides and other natural hazards. A major recommendation of the Project Impact council was that the city and the U.S. Geological Survey collaborate to produce a landslide hazard map. An exceptional data set archived by the city containing more than 100 yr of landslide data from severe storm events allowed comparison of actual landslide locations with those predicted by slope-stability modeling. We used an infinite-slope analysis, which models slope segments as rigid friction blocks, to estimate the susceptibility of slopes to debris flows, which are water-laden slurries that can form from shallow failures of soil and weathered bedrock and can travel at high velocities down steep slopes. Data used for the analysis consisted of a digital slope map derived from recent light detection and ranging (LiDAR) imagery of Seattle, recent digital geologic mapping of the city, and shear-strength test data for the geologic units found in the surrounding area. The combination of these data layers within a geographic information system (GIS) platform allowed us to create a shallow landslide hazard map for Seattle.

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Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Shallow landslide hazard map of Seattle, Washington
Series title Reviews in Engineering Geology
DOI 10.1130/2008.4020(04)
Volume 20
Year Published 2008
Language English
Publisher Geological Society of America
Contributing office(s) Denver Federal Center
Description 16 p.
First page 67
Last page 82
Country United States
State Washington
City Seattle
Online Only (Y/N) N
Additional Online Files (Y/N) N
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