Dataset Information

Detection and Assessment of a Large and Potentially Tsunamigenic Periglacial Landslide in Barry Arm, Alaska.

ABSTRACT: The retreat of glaciers in response to global warming has the potential to trigger landslides in glaciated regions around the globe. Landslides that enter fjords or lakes can cause tsunamis, which endanger people and infrastructure far from the landslide itself. Here we document the ongoing movement of an unstable slope (total volume of 455 × 10⁶ m³) in Barry Arm, a fjord in Prince William Sound, Alaska. The slope moved rapidly between 2010 and 2017, yielding a horizontal displacement of 120 m, which is highly correlated with the rapid retreat and thinning of Barry Glacier. Should the entire unstable slope collapse at once, preliminary tsunami modeling suggests a maximum runup of 300 m near the landslide, which may have devastating impacts on local communities. Our findings highlight the need for interdisciplinary studies of recently deglaciated fjords to refine our understanding of the impact of climate change on landslides and tsunamis.

SUBMITTER: Dai C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7816221 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Detection and Assessment of a Large and Potentially Tsunamigenic Periglacial Landslide in Barry Arm, Alaska.

Dai Chunli C Higman Bretwood B Lynett Patrick J PJ Jacquemart Mylène M Howat Ian M IM Liljedahl Anna K AK Dufresne Anja A Freymueller Jeffrey T JT Geertsema Marten M Ward Jones Melissa M Haeussler Peter J PJ

Geophysical research letters 20201109 22

The retreat of glaciers in response to global warming has the potential to trigger landslides in glaciated regions around the globe. Landslides that enter fjords or lakes can cause tsunamis, which endanger people and infrastructure far from the landslide itself. Here we document the ongoing movement of an unstable slope (total volume of 455 × 10<sup>6</sup> m<sup>3</sup>) in Barry Arm, a fjord in Prince William Sound, Alaska. The slope moved rapidly between 2010 and 2017, yielding a horizontal d ...[more]

PMID: 33518831

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Project description:The aim of this study is to provide a landslide susceptibility map of the Xunyang District of a mountainous terrain, at the southern part of the Qin-Ba Mountain Region, which has been highly exposed to widely distributed shallow landslides over the past few decades. The Weight of Evidence (WoE) method was adopted in this research considering both the presence of a certain landslide causative factor class and the absence of remaining classes, which was used for determining a clearly spatial correlation between a landslide occurrence and the causative factors. Intrinsic factors, including geomorphological factors, geological factors, and river flow networks, and external factors of anthropogenic engineering activities in terms of density of road network were all considered and involved in the Geological Information System (GIS) environment for reconstructing the thematic layers of factor dataset. Significant assumptions prior to the analysis were emphasized to ensure conditional independence between each pair of factors for this bivariate statistical approach. In addition, a detailed landslide inventory map was constructed through field investigation and a remote sensing interpretation process at a scale of 1:50000. The thematic layers and landslide map were overlapped to obtain a spatial statistical relationship by using the frequency ratio method. At last, the validation process for the derived susceptibility map was conducted by applying the ROC curve, indicating that more than 90% of the landslides were in categories of high and moderate susceptibility zones. The causative factor classes, including the slope angles ranging from 20 to 40°, strong weathered and fractured strata, and road network density were identified to considerably influence the landslide distribution in the study area. The results have proven to be significantly meaningful for landslide hazard risk mitigation and land use management for the local authorities responsible for these fields.

Dataset Information

Detection and Assessment of a Large and Potentially Tsunamigenic Periglacial Landslide in Barry Arm, Alaska.

Publications

Detection and Assessment of a Large and Potentially Tsunamigenic Periglacial Landslide in Barry Arm, Alaska.

Similar Datasets

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