Categories: Big Sur

Understanding landslides: a new model for predicting motion

New study led by UC Santa Cruz also advances understanding of tectonic-plate dynamicsPeer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA – SANTA CRUZ

IMAGE: PAUL’S SLIDE, AT POST MILE 22, HAS BEEN ACTIVE FOR MUCH OF THE HISTORY OF HIGHWAY 1 ON THE BIG SUR COAST.view more CREDIT: PHOTO BY KEVIN SCHMIDT/USGS

Along coastal California, the possibility of earthquakes and landslides are commonly prefaced by the phrase, “not if, but when.” This precarious reality is now a bit more predictable thanks to researchers at UC Santa Cruz and The University of Texas at Austin, who found that conditions known to cause slip along fault lines deep underground also lead to landslides above.

The new study, led by UC Santa Cruz geologist Noah Finnegan, used detailed data from two landslide sites in Northern California that researchers have identified and closely monitored for years. Finnegan and his co-author then applied a model originally developed to explain slow fault slip and eventually landed on a striking result: The model worked just as well for landslides as it did for faults.

For the rest of this article, see: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1061604

bigsurkate

Appointed appellate counsel for indigent defendants (retired.) I have lived in Big Sur since 1984, first on the north coast, and on the South Coast since 1989.