7 April 2011

An interesting new video of a landslide in action

Posted by Dave Petley

Thanks to Tom Hodgson for pointing out this one.  A new Youtube video of a landslide in action has appeared in the last couple of days.  Whilst it is not the largest slide, the quality of the video is excellent – it should be visible below:

This slide occurred on Nelson Road in Santa Cruz County of California.  There are a few interesting things to note.  First, the ground is dry, as is the landslide itself.  Second, note how the main event was preceded by precursory activity, with an increasing event rate.  Finally, note how abruptly the movement ceased, and the smoothed out morphology that resulted.  If there is a lesson from this it is that trying to pass by a slope that is spalling rock in the manner that was occurring at the start of the video is highly dangerous.