Northern California Landslide Working Group

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The new Northern California Landslide Working Group will combine the skills of landslide experts to better understand the hazard posed by landslides. We will look at how landslides work, how they relate to the rocks that make up the Earth and what triggers them. This investigation will provide a better picture of where and when landslides will occur and will help us avoid or prevent them.

The NCLWG is sponsoring interdisciplinary USGS landslide research in Northern California. The first research project for the Group will be a scenario-based hazard map of the Oakland -Berkeley area. The scenario-based map will attempt to show where landslides are likely to occur when a certain triggering event (or combination of events) happens, such as an earthquake, heavy rain, or long rainy season.

The NCLWG is also organizing a series of monthly landslide seminars, one hour presentations of recent and ongoing landslide research by members of the landslide community within and outside the USGS.

Above: Aerial photograph of the Mission Peak Landslide that occurred outside of Fremont, CA during the winter of 1998.