Terrestrial LIDAR investigation of the December 2003 and January 2007 activations of the Northridge Bluff landslide, Daly City, California

Open-File Report 2007-1079
By: , and 

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Abstract

On December 20, 2003 and again on January 1, 2007, landslides occurred along the coastal bluff that forms the west boundary of Daly City, California sending debris as far as 290 meters downhill and 90 meters into the ocean. This area is known for large landslide events where 150-meter tall coastal bluffs extend southward along the west boundary of San Francisco and San Mateo Counties (Fig. 1). The 2003 and 2007 landslide events occurred west of Northridge Drive in Daly City and just south of Avalon Canyon, which bisects the bluffs in this area (Fig. 2). Residential development, utility lines and roads occupy the land immediately east of this location. As part of a comprehensive project to investigate the failure mechanisms of coastal bluff landslides in weakly lithified sediments along the west coast of the United States, members of the U.S. Geologic Survey (USGS) Coastal and Marine Geology (CMG) Program performed reconnaissance mapping of these landslide events including collection of high-resolution topographic data using CMG's terrestrial LIDAR laser scanning system.


This report provides a brief background on each landslide event and presents topographic datasets collected following each event. Downloadable contour data, images, and FGDC-compliant metadata of the surfaces generated from the LIDAR data are also provided. LIDAR data collection and processing techniques used to generate the datasets are outlined. Geometric and volumetric measurements are also presented along with high-resolution cross-sections through various areas of the slide masses and discussion concerning the slides present (2007) configuration is provided.

Study Area

Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Terrestrial LIDAR investigation of the December 2003 and January 2007 activations of the Northridge Bluff landslide, Daly City, California
Series title Open-File Report
Series number 2007-1079
DOI 10.3133/ofr20071079
Edition Version 1.0
Year Published 2007
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Publisher location Reston, VA
Contributing office(s) Coastal and Marine Geology Program
Description v, 32 p.; Data
Country United States
State California
City Daly City
Online Only (Y/N) Y
Additional Online Files (Y/N) Y
Google Analytic Metrics Metrics page
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