Analysis of the seismic origin of landslides: Examples from the New Madrid seismic zone

Abstract

Research Article| April 01, 1993 Analysis of the seismic origin of landslides: Examples from the New Madrid seismic zone RANDALL W. JIBSON; RANDALL W. JIBSON 1U.S. Geological Survey, Box 25046, M.S. 966, Denver Federal Center, Denver, Colorado 80225 Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar DAVID K. KEEFER DAVID K. KEEFER 2U.S. Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Road, M.S. 998, Menlo Park, California 94025 Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Author and Article Information RANDALL W. JIBSON 1U.S. Geological Survey, Box 25046, M.S. 966, Denver Federal Center, Denver, Colorado 80225 DAVID K. KEEFER 2U.S. Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Road, M.S. 998, Menlo Park, California 94025 Publisher: Geological Society of America First Online: 01 Jun 2017 Online ISSN: 1943-2674 Print ISSN: 0016-7606 Geological Society of America GSA Bulletin (1993) 105 (4): 521–536. https://doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(1993)105<0521:AOTSOO>2.3.CO;2 Article history First Online: 01 Jun 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation RANDALL W. JIBSON, DAVID K. KEEFER; Analysis of the seismic origin of landslides: Examples from the New Madrid seismic zone. GSA Bulletin 1993;; 105 (4): 521–536. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(1993)105<0521:AOTSOO>2.3.CO;2 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyGSA Bulletin Search Advanced Search Abstract By analyzing two landslides in the New Madrid seismic zone, we develop an approach for judging if a landslide or group of landslides of unknown origin was more likely to have formed as a result of earthquake shaking or in aseismic conditions. The two landslides analyzed are representative of two groups of land-slides that previous research on the geomorphology and regional distribution of landslides in this region indicates may have been triggered by the 1811-1812 New Madrid earthquakes. Slope-stability models of aseismic conditions show that neither landslide is likely to have formed aseismically even in unrealistically high ground-water conditions. Dynamic stability analysis using Newmark's method shows that both slides probably would have experienced large inertial displacements during earthquake shaking similar to that which occurred in 1811-1812; these displacements are large enough that catastrophic failure is highly probable. Thus, the stability analyses are consistent with other lines of evidence that these landslides formed as a result of strong earthquake shaking during the 1811-1812 earthquakes.Our analysis yields a general relationship between Newmark landslide displacement, earthquake shaking intensity, and the critical acceleration of a landslide. Using this relationship, we estimate the minimum shaking intensities required to trigger the types of landslides studied: an mb = 5.8 or M = 5.9 earthquake is the lower bound threshold at zero epicentral distance that could trigger catastrophic movement of typical block slides in the New Madrid seismic zone; for earth flows, mb = 5.4 or M = 5.3 is the threshold earthquake. This content is PDF only. Please click on the PDF icon to access. First Page Preview Close Modal You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.