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RU ROCKSLIDE RESEARCH: Glacier Point & Curry Village,

Yosemite National Park, California, 1997 to Present

 

Map of Curry Village showing rockfall flyrock impact areas as well as damaged tent and cabin locations beneath Glacier Point since 1998.

 

Dormitory under construction in rockfall zone, June 2006

 

LP gas tanks in rockfall zone, June 2006

 

 

 

PUBLICATIONS

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ROCKFALL TIMING RELATED TO WATERSHED CHARACTERISTICS AND WASTEWATER MANAGEMENT AT GLACIER POINT, YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, CALIFORNIA (2007, pdf)

Published in the Proceedings of the First North American Landslide Conference, Vail, CO, June 3-8, 2007

 

Chester F. Watts¹, Frederick A. Brooks², Stephen A. Underwood³

¹Radford University

²California State University, Chico, Emeritus

³Radford University

 

Timing of water tank overflow and the seasonal draining of tank correlated to periods of rockfall (vertical dashed lines) during 1999.  Similar timing has been documented for 1998 and 2000.  Watershed analyses reveal that natural precipitation and snowmelt are insignificant at the overflow point compared to wastewater quantities.  See full article above.

 

Curry Village rockslide below Glacier Point, June 13, 1999, photo by Marshall Minobe

 

 

 

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STABILITY INPUT FACTORS, CALCULATIONS, AND TRIGGERS FOR RECENT ROCK FALLS AT GLACIER POINT, YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, CALIFORNIA (2007, pdf)

Published in the Proceedings of the First North American Landslide Conference, Vail, CO, June 3-8, 2007

 

Robert J. Watters¹, Chester F. Watts², Stephen A. Underwood³

¹University of Nevada, Reno

²Radford University

³Radford University

 

Stability calculations show that as little as 400 gallons of water from any type of water source can trigger the massive rockfalls documented in 1998-99 in Curry Village.  See full article above.

 

 

 

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A 2000 UPDATE OF RADFORD UNIVERSITY STUDIES OF GLACIER POINT ROCKFALLS IN YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, CALIFORNIA (html & ppt)

Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association of Engineering Geologists, San Jose, California, 2000, based on preliminary research and limited information provided by Yosemite National Park

 

Chester F. Watts & Daniel R. Gilliam

Institute for Engineering Geosciences

Radford University

Radford, Virginia 24142

 

1996 Happy Isles rockslide.  Photo by David F. Walter.  See full PowerPoint presentation above.

 

1996 Happy Isles rockslide release area with respect to leach field and wastewater line locations, 1995-1997.

 

RU graduate student Dan Gilliam climbing in the 1996 Happy Isles rockslide release area, August 1997

 

RU rockslide research team member Taz McGhee climbing in the 1996 Happy Isles rockslide release area, August 1997

 

   

RU team member Eric Hall climbing at Glacier Point, Yosemite during research Photo by CFW

 

 

 

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For additional information see:

 

Unusual July 10, 1996, rock fall at Happy Isles, Yosemite National Park,

California

http://landslides.usgs.gov/docs/faq/gsa_bulletin_yosemite.pdf?PHPSESSID=4quavl043hdm277d0jbhd5nvq0

Gerald F. Wieczorek* U.S. Geological Survey, M.S. 955, National Center, Reston, Virginia 20192

James B. Snyder National Park Service, P.O. Box 577, Yosemite National Park, California 95389

Richard B. Waitt Cascades Volcano Observatory, U.S. Geological Survey, Vancouver,Washington 98661

Meghan M. Morrissey Department of Geology and Geological Engineering, Colorado School of Mines,

Golden, Colorado 80401

Robert A. Uhrhammer Berkeley Seismological Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720

Edwin L. Harp U.S. Geological Survey, M.S. 966, Box 25046, Denver Federal Center, Denver, Colorado 80225

Robert D. Norris U.S. Geological Survey, Department of Geophysics, Box 351650, University of Washington,

Seattle,Washington 98195

Marcus I. Bursik Department of Geology, State University of New York, Buffalo, New York 14260

Lee G. Finewood Department of Geology, State University of New York, Buffalo, New York 14260

 

Rock falls from Glacier Point above Camp Curry, Yosemite National Park, California

http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1999/ofr-99-0385/

U.S. Geological Survey Open-file Report 99-385, 1999

Gerald F. Wieczorek1 and James B. Snyder2

1USGS, 955 National Center, Reston, VA 20192; 2NPS, P.O. Box 577, Yosemite National Park, CA 95389

 

Investigation and hazard assessment of the 2003 and 2007 Staircase

Falls rock falls, Yosemite National Park, California, USA

http://www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net/8/421/2008/nhess-8-421-2008.pdf

G. F. Wieczorek1, G. M. Stock2, P. Reichenbach3, J. B. Snyder4, J. W. Borchers5, and J. W. Godt6

1US Geological Survey, MS926A, Reston, Virginia, USA

2Division of Resources Management and Science, Yosemite National Park, El Portal, California, USA

3CNR-IRPI, via della Madonna Alta, 126, 06128 Perugia, Italy

4Yosemite National Park (retired), Davis, California, USA

5US Geological Survey (retired), Sacramento, California, USA

6US Geological Survey, MS966, Denver, Colorado, USA