Mass Wasting/Landslide Animations
Compiled by Mark Francek (more info) at Central Michigan University
Access animations showing different types of landslides like slumps, slides, and falls in a variety of environments.
Landslide Types, McGraw Hill (more info) This Flash animation displays in quick sequence four different mass wasting events: earthflow, translational slump, rotational slump, and rock fall. Images are attractive but there is little in the way of causative factors involved in mass wasting. To access the animation Click on the "Flow Slide Fall" link.
Earth Flow, Wiley (more info) This Flash animation with accompanying audio exhibits the different stages involved in the formation of an earth flow. A step-like scarp forms along with a flowage zone at the toe of the earth flow. The sequence concludes with the stabilization of the earth flow with vegetation. Expect long loading times.
Deep Seated Landslide, Wiley (more info) Find a USGS animation showing the conditions leading to a San Francisco Bay area bedrock landslide. The scene begins with a flyby of the Bay Area showing the considerable relief of the region. The focus then shifts to the subsurface conditions, an impermeable rock layer above a permeable rock layer, responsible for creating a landslide after a period of rain. Expect long loading times.
Bay Area Slump, USGS (more info) This MPEG simulation sequences a 1997 slump in San Mateo County, located within the San Francisco Bay Area. After a long period of rain, a fissure opened at the crest of the slope and the slump progressed down hill. The animation captures movement over an eight day period with an average movement of a few feet per day. Over 250,000 tons of rock and soil moved in this landslide.
Japanese Landslide (more info) This Real Media video clip chronicles a spectacular, massive Japanese landslide that buried a road. The clip concludes with a aerial view of the scar produced on the hillside.
