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Science and Ideas Group - Moving mountains
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About this event
RSVP: Joseph Evinger (jdevinger@comcast.net)
When: Every 2nd Thursday of the month, 3:00-4:30 pm
Where: Zoom (click "Zoom" to join event)
Meeting ID: 848 0146 1083
Passcode: science
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+1 669 900 9128
Meeting ID: 848 0146 1083
Open to: All
Science and Ideas
Moving mountains - the where, when, and why of slow landslides in coastal California
Presenter: Noah J. Finnegan, Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences, UC Santa Cruz
During wet winters like California experienced in 2023-2024, news stories abound about slow landslide damage to infrastructure from Crescent City to Palos Verdes. In this talk, I will provide an overview of what it is about California’s geology, tectonics, and climate that leads to this chronic and costly geohazard. Much of this understanding comes from 8 years of detailed monitoring of a large, slow landslide in the Diablo Range just to the southeast of Oakland, CA.
Noah Finnegan is a professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at UCSC specializing in “geomorphology,” the study of erosion and how it shapes topography. Noah teaches classes focused on geomorphology, active tectonics, and hydrology. Since starting at UCSC in 2009, Noah’s research has focused mainly on processes of erosion and sediment transport in rivers, and more recently, on the mechanics and hydrology of landslides. Before moving to California, Noah had always lived in locations in the U.S. that were covered by glaciers during the last ice age.