Erzincan: a very interesting mudflow in Üzümlü, eastern Turkey

On 2 July 2020 a large and interesting mudflow occurred at Günebakan in the Erzincan area of eastern Turkey.  The Turkish news site AA has an image of the aftermath of the landslide:-

The aftermath of the mudflow at Günebakan in the Erzincan area of eastern Turkey in July 2020. Image via AA.

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The landslide reportedly destroyed two houses and a number of stables, as well as killing some livestock.  Fortunately no-one was killed.

The most interesting aspect of this landslide is that the latter phases of it were captures on a video that has been uploaded to Youtube by the Turkish news site Erzincan Haber :-

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This video gets really interesting at about 26 seconds, when a small flow is captured travelling down the channel.  At about 40 seconds it becomes fascinating as a much larger flow enters the system and propagates through the mud.  The video captures really well the complex flow properties of these materials – initially the wave travels over the top of the existing deposit, but later on it becomes a waves that travels through the deposit.  It’s very interesting behaviour that will provide insight for the landslide modelling community.

Thanks to Tolga Görüm for highlighting this one to me.

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Quickslide 1: Lidar data of the Old Fort landslide

An excellent presentation of the new Lidar data from the Old Fort landslide has been posted online by the British Columbia Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure.  Thanks to Susan DeSandoli, who is kindly keeping me updated about this interesting landslide.

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Quickslide 2: The rising toll from the heavy rains in Japan

The ongoing spell of the exceptional rainfall in Japan continues to generate extensive landslides and widespread flooding.  Reuters reports that 44 people have now been killed and a further ten people are missing.  The rainfall is steadily moving eastwards and is likely to last until at least Wednesday.