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Geology

Western Washington University

Theses/Dissertations

Landslides

Publication Year

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Testing Potential Triggering Mechanisms Of Long-Runout Catastrophic Rock Avalanches In The Nooksack River Basin, Whatcom County, Washington, Eric R. Brown Jan 2022

Testing Potential Triggering Mechanisms Of Long-Runout Catastrophic Rock Avalanches In The Nooksack River Basin, Whatcom County, Washington, Eric R. Brown

WWU Graduate School Collection

The Nooksack basin contains five large Holocene long-runout rock avalanche deposits. Similarities and spatial proximity of the deposits suggest that they may share a common triggering mechanism. Two of the deposits, Van Zandt Landslide Complex (VZLC) and Church Mountain Sturzstrom (CMS) have published ages that overlap with prehistoric earthquakes, suggesting seismicity may be the cause. To further test this idea, I mapped and dated the remaining three deposits, Racehorse Creek (RHC), Middle Fork (MFN), and Maple Falls (MF). To establish ages for the slides, I combined radiocarbon dating of organics in sediment cores from bogs in the debris fields and …


Delineation Of Landslide Slip Surfaces Using Ground Penetrating Radar As Compared And Contrasted With Existing Slip Surface Data: Evaluation Of Gpr For Landslide Slip Surface Determination, Michael E. (Michael Eric) Hutchinson Jan 2003

Delineation Of Landslide Slip Surfaces Using Ground Penetrating Radar As Compared And Contrasted With Existing Slip Surface Data: Evaluation Of Gpr For Landslide Slip Surface Determination, Michael E. (Michael Eric) Hutchinson

WWU Graduate School Collection

Ground penetrating radar (GPR) was used to investigate two landslides within the South Puget Sound region to evaluate if this technology could be used to delineate slip surface location. The internal structures of two landslides with similar stratigraphic and geographic settings in the South Puget Sound Region were evaluated using GPR. For the two landslides studied, results of prior geologic and geotechnical work identified the location and extent of each landslide slip surface. Longitudinal and latitudinal GPR transects were completed on each landslide mass to map subsurface radar reflection amplitudes (radargrams) and times. To convert radar travel times to depths, …