Pennsylvania
» Introduction to Landslide Activities in Pennsylvania
This 2006 construction-related failure near Pittsburgh is an extreme example of landslide issues in an area that combines steep slopes, weak, clay-rich rock and soil and a long history of urban development and infrastructure. Photo by Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.
Pennsylvania has a wide variety of landside occurrences, on both geologic and human time scales. The Greater Pittsburgh urban area has the best documented and most publicized landslide problems, but other parts of the Commonwealth are also prone to slides. Information on costs to remediate landslide effects is incomplete but damages to utilities, buildings and roadways probably averages in the tens of millions of dollars per year.
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» Inventory Status for Pennsylvania
Lidar (2007) slope image combined with orthophotograph showing landslides in glacial sediments in north-central Pennsylvania.
Maps for most of western Pennsylvania are included in the USGS Open-File Landslides and Related Features Maps prepared in the 1970's and 1980's. These maps have been scanned and are posted as PDF files on our website at http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/topogeo/hazards/landslides/slidepubs/index.htm (scroll down)
Pennsylvania Survey staff complete a partial inventory and susceptibility study in north-central Pennsylvania in the 1980s. Ordering information is available at: http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/ucmprd1/groups/public/documents/document/dcnr_006703.pdf
No formal inventory activities are presently ongoing, but we collect data on occurrences as we learn of them. We are looking at ways to use our recently acquired state-wide Lidar elevation data to improve the existing information on landslides and other surface features in Pennsylvania. A long term goal is to develop a digital database which will be available to the public.
» Websites
Large bedrock landslides on a dip slope in the Ridge and valley province of northeast Pennsylvania is shown in 2006 Lidar and orthophoto combined image.
Pennsylvania Department of Conservation - Landslides Home Page
This website provides basic information on landslides hazards and links to digital and print publications and to the available landslide maps for Pennsylvania.
