GEER Response to the Oso Landslide: Documenting Perishable Details Helps Turn Disaster into Knowledge
Two months after the disastrous March 22, 2014 landslide near Oso, Washington, GEER representatives visited the affected area to gather data. This article is based on the report generated...
Ground Feature Monitoring Using Satellite Imagery: How Interferometric Stacking of SAR Can Mitigate Geo-Disasters Along Transportation Corridors
Landslides, debris flows, and other types of ground movements are among the most common hazards to humans and infrastructure. According to the United States Geological Survey, annual domestic...
Landslide Risk Perception: Consequences of Failure to Reconcile Contradictory Beliefs
While the basis for geotechnical safety is important, public perceptions of risk and its apparent willingness to ignore or discount hazard warnings should also be considered. Why does...
Strength from Within
After decades of being continuously struck by rockfalls and wayward vehicles, Knapps Hill Tunnel�a highway structure built in 1936 and located on state Route 97A in central Washington...
Draining in a New Direction
(Available on in special edition) Wick drains can stabilize slopes and landslides by accelerating soil consolidation and settlement. But conventional wick drains, driven vertically into...
The Penstock Puzzle
After 40 years of chronic slope movements and several engineering studies, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District in California signed a design-build contract to stabilize the 1,500...
A Race Against Time
The coastal hillsides of San Mateo County, California, were quickly developed during the post WWII construction boom. Although the land is prized for its scenic beauty, the underlying...
Rehab by Helicopter
The City of San Diego's 86-year old Dulzura Conduit has been in almost continuous operation since it first opened in 1909. But by 1984 flow had been reduced to less than 15...
Rapid Slope Monitoring
Use of inexpensive coaxial cable rather than inclinometers has cut the cost of monitoring slope movement at seven potential landslide sites in California. The method involved is called...
A Landslide of Litigation
Recently in Dana Point, Calif. a hillside road-widening project turned into a mountain of litigation when crews unknowingly cut open the slope toe downhill of residences. Design consultants...
Nailing A Landslide (Available only in the Geo/Environmental Special Issue)
When mud flows in California threatened to stop traffic on a freeway and erode a street from below, Caltrans worked around the clock to stabilize the slope using soil nailing and shotcrete....
Landslides under Static and Dynamic Conditions
Analysis, Monitoring, and Mitigation
It is important to consider both the geotechnical engineering and the engineering geology implications of static and dynamic behavior of landslides. In studying landslides one must consider...
Nonlinear Earthquake Analysis of Concrete Gravity Dams Including Sliding
The sliding stability of a concrete gravity dam during a design earthquake must be investigated to assess the seismic safety of the dam. A new numerical procedure for solving the equations...
Locking Into Success
In 1961, at Wheeler Lock in Alabama, crews with the Tennessee Valley Authority tried to incorporate an existing lock wall into a new cofferdam. A major portion of the land wall slid about...
Hybrid Control of Sliding Isolated Structures
The seismic response of buildings and bridges can be improved by isolating the structure with a seismic sliding bearings. Specialized passive devices are commonly used to complement these...
Landslide Stabilisation at the Clyde Power Project, New Zealand
The Clyde Power Project is a hydro electric development on the Clutha River in the South Island of New Zealand. A wide range of stabilization measures have been used to treat several large...
Application of Spencer's Method for Slope Stability Analysis
For slope stability analysis with general, arbitrarily shaped failure surfaces, the Spencer's method has been found to provide a reasonably accurate result. This method satisfies both...
Slides and Slumps on the Coastal Zone Between San Miguel and El Descanso, Baja California, Mexico
The coastline between Tijuana and Ensenada is being subject to intensive development, mainly as resort property, and because of the roughness of the adjacent areas inland, the coastal...
Assessment Procedures for Lahars, Mudflows, Debris Flows and Debris Torrents
Unique hydraulic and rheologic characteristics of lahars, mudflows, debris flows and debris torrents require specialized assessment procedures. This paper discusses a fourteen element...
A Model for Low-Drag Landslides
Field observations and experimental records indicate that the primary mode of motion of many large landslides is that of sliding rather than flowing. Most of the shear during sliding is...
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