News in Brief Earth

A deadly 2014 landslide’s power came from soils weakened by past slides

The Washington mudflow moved almost like an earthworm, extending and contracting

Oso landslide

LETHAL LANDSLIDE  Researchers reconstructed the anatomy of the Oso landslide, one of the deadliest in U.S. history, to understand why it was so widespread. Liquefied sediments, weakened by previous earthquakes, rafted the debris far down the hill. 

Jonathan Godt/USGS 

By Carolyn Gramling

- More than 2 years ago

SEATTLE — Earth weakened by previous landslides and soils behaving like water were responsible for the unusual size of a deadly 2014 landslide, two scientists reported October 24 at the Geological Society of America’s annual meeting.