Geologist finds 1901 landslide damage in the Appalachians with LiDAR and a 121 year old map

The extreme rainfall that produces Appalachian floods also produces numerous landslides, but forests recover quickly and the scars from historic slide events are hidden within 30 years or so. In 1901, an extreme storm in Mitchell County, North Carolina, produced a large debris flow landslide sketched and described by W.M. Myers. Using Myers' 121-year-old drawing and text description, I found the scar of this debris flow near the headwaters of Gouges Creek on the Mitchell-Avery County Line. Myers' sketch and writing turned out to be very useful in locating the feature using LiDAR imagery, which shows the bare ground surface below the tree cover. This video compares the drawing to the real scar and shows how I used Google Maps and LiDAR to find it.

[@stephenmesser4196]

Awesome , I love geologic investigation like this. it's amazing how much more forested the east has become in the last 100 years you would think it would be the opposite.

[@k4x4map46]

nice!!

[@cherylm2C6671]

Thank you so much for your work. After reading about the Johnstown Flood (eighteen eighty-something) use of LIDAR imagery will be tremendously helpful to geologists and developers. It is surprising to see the older slide activity. There is a tremendous amount of information in your presentation. Would someone at your campus be interested in transferring your lidar imagery to 3-D prints? The prints could use 'spiced' greensand or ceramic to position discrete densities in the plot. It might add to what you were explaining with the sand, and I am sure a university could get you funded or working with USGS regarding New Madrid activity. I mentioned your channel on the RUclips GNS Science channel because they had a landslide (and slide dam breach) issue that looked similar.