Mass Wasting/Landslide Animations

Compiled by Mark Francek (more info) (Central Michigan University) and John McDaris (SERC)

Access animations and videos showing different types of landslides like slumps, slides, and falls in a variety of environments.

Browse the complete set of Visualization Collections. If you have comments or additional resources to add to the page, use our Feedback box to let us know.



Po Selim tin mine landslide - Malaysia: This 1993 collapse of the side wall of a tin mine in Malaysia illustrates the energy of the mud flow that can be generated during a large landslide.

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.

Deep Seated Landslide: This USGS animation shows 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. (From Fly-by Movies of Ancient Landslides in the East Bay Hills and in Marin County - USGS)

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.

Maierato, Calabria, Italy - 2/15/2010

Mudslide in Maierato, Calabria, Italy (more info) This YouTube video shows footage captured of a massive landslide that occurred in Maierato, Italy on February 15, 2010.

Landslide in Italy (more info) This YouTube video shows aerial footage of the aftermath of a massive landslide in Maierato, Calabria, Italy on February 15, 2010. The footage was shot on February 16, 2010.