Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T20:17:26.508Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Tree-ring dated landslide movements and their relationship to seismic events in southwestern Montana, USA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Paul E. Carrara  and
J. Micheal O’Neill
Paul E. Carrara*
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, Mail Stop 980, Denver Federal Center, Denver, CO 80225, USA
J. Micheal O’Neill
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, Mail Stop 905, Denver Federal Center, Denver, CO 80225, USA
*
*Corresponding author. P. E. Carrara, U.S. Geological Survey, Mail Stop 913, Denver Federal Center, Denver, CO 80225, USA. E-mail address: [email protected] (P.E. Carrara).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

To determine periods of incremental landslide movement and their possible relationship to regional seismic events, the tree-ring records of 32 tilted and damaged conifers at three sites on landslides in the Gravelly Range of southwestern Montana were examined. Several signs of disturbance in the tree-ring record indicating landslide movement were observed. Commonly, the tree-ring record displayed a marked reduction in annual ring width and/or the reaction wood formation. The tree-ring records from the three landslide sites indicate multiple periods of movement during the 20th century. Many of the periods of movement indicated by the strongest signals (most trees) at the sites occurred the year following significant earthquakes in the region. Those seismic events for which evidence in the tree-ring record was found at one or more of the three sites are the 1983 Borah Peak, 1959 Hebgen Lake, 1935 Helena, 1925 Clarkson, and 1908 Virginia City earthquakes. This study suggests that many of the landslide movements were triggered by, or are coincident with, earthquakes as much as 200 km from the study area.

Keywords

MontanaTree-ring analysisLandslidesEarthquakes
Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 59 , Issue 1 , January 2003 , pp. 25 - 35
Copyright
Elsevier Science (USA)

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baum, R.L., Fleming, R.W., (1996). Kinematic studies of the Slumgullion landslide, Hinsdale County, Colorado. in: Varnes, D.J., Savage, W.Z. (Eds.), The Slumgullion Earth Flow: A Large-Scale Natural Laboratory, U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 2130, pp. 9–12.Google Scholar
Brown, P.M., (1996). Oldlist: a database of maximum tree ages. in: Dean, J.S., Meko, D.M., Swetnam, T.W. (Eds.), Tree Rings, Environment, and Humanity Radiocarbon, pp. 727–731.Google Scholar
Carrara, P.E. The determination of snow avalanche frequency through tree-ring analysis and historical records at Ophir, Colorado. Geological Society of America Bulletin 90, (1979). 773 780.Google Scholar
Carrara, P.E. Response of Douglas-firs along the fault scarp of the 1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake, southwestern Montana. Northwest Geology 31, (2002). 54 65.Google Scholar
Doser, D.I. Source parameters and faulting processes of the 1959 Hebgen Lake, Montana, earthquake sequence. Journal of Geophysical Research 90, (1985). 4537 4555.Google Scholar
Fritts, H.C. Tree Rings and Climate. (1976). Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Fuller, M.L., (1912). The New Madrid earthquake. U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 494 Google Scholar
Hupp, C.R., Osterkamp, W.R., Thornton, J.L., (1987). Dendrogeomorphic evidence and dating of recent debris flows on Mount Shasta, northern California. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1396-B Google Scholar
Jacoby, G.C. Jr., Sheppard, P.R., and Sieh, K.E. Irregular reoccurrence of large earthquakes along the San Andreas fault. evidence from trees. Science 241, (1988). 196 199.Google Scholar
Jensen, J.M. The Upper Gros Ventre landslide of Wyoming—A dendrochronology of landslide events and possible mechanics of failure. Geological Society of America Abtracts with Programs 15, 5 (1983). 387 Google Scholar
Jibson, R.W., and Keefer, D.K. Landslides triggered by earthquakes in the central Mississippi Valley, Tennessee and Kentucky. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1336-C, (1988). 1 24.Google Scholar
Keefer, D.K. Landslides caused by earthquakes. Geological Society of America Bulletin 95, (1984). 406 421.Google Scholar
LaMarche, V.C. Jr., and Hirschboeck, K.K. Frost rings in trees as records of major volcanic eruptions. Nature 307, (1984). 121 126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Logan, R.L., and Schuster, R.L. Lakes divided—The origin of Lake Crescent and Lake Sutherland, Clallam County. Washington. Washington Division of Geology and Earth Resources. Washington Geology 19, (1991). 38 42.Google Scholar
Luikart, E.J., (1997). Syn- and post-Laramide geology of the south-central Gravelly Range, southwestern Montana. Bozeman, Montana State University M.S. thesis, 96 pGoogle Scholar
McGee, W.J. A fossil earthquake. Geological Society of America Bulletin 4, (1893). 411 414.Google Scholar
Meisling, K.E., and Sieh, K.E. Disturbance of trees by the 1857 Fort Tejon earthquake, California. Journal of Geophysical Research 85, (1980). 3225 3238.Google Scholar
O’Neill, J.M., Le Roy, T.H., Carrara, P.E., (1994). Preliminary map showing Quaternary faults and landslides in the Cliff Lake Quadrangle. Madison County, Montana. U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 94–198., scale 1:24,000 Google Scholar
O’Neill, J.M., Leroy, T.H., Stickney, M.C., and Carrara, P.E. Neotectonic evolution and historical seismicity of the upper Madison Valley and adjacent Madison and Gravelly Ranges in the Cliff Lake 15′ quadrangle, southwest Montana. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 27, 4 (1995). 50 Google Scholar
Panshin, A.J., de Zeeuw, C. 3rd ed. Textbook of Wood Technology vol. 1, (1970). McGraw-Hill, New York.Google Scholar
Pardee, J.T. The Montana earthquake of June 27, 1925. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 147-B, (1926). 7 21.Google Scholar
Qamar, A.I., Stickney, M.C., (1983). Montana earthquakes 1869–1979: historical seismicity and earthquake hazard. Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology Memoir 51 Google Scholar
Reeder, J.W. The dating of landslides in Anchorage, Alaska—A case for earthquake-triggered movements. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 11, 7 (1979). 501 Google Scholar
Scott, H.W., (1936). The Montana earthquake of 1935. Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology Memoir 16 Google Scholar
Sheppard, P.R., and Jacoby, G.C. Application of tree-ring analysis to paleoseismology. two case studies. Geology 17, (1989). 226 229.Google Scholar
Shroder, J.F. Jr. Dendrogeomorphological analysis of mass movement on Table Cliffs Plateau, Utah. Quaternary Research 9, (1978). 168 185.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, R.B., and Sbar, M.L. Contemporary tectonics and seismicity of the Western United States with emphasis on the Intermountain seismic belt. Geological Society of America Bulletin 85, (1974). 1205 1218.Google Scholar
Stickney, M.C., and Bartholomew, M.J. Seismicity and late Quaternary faulting of the northern Basin and Range Province, Montana and Idaho. Seismological Society of America Bulletin 77, (1987). 1602 1625.Google Scholar
Stokes, M.A., and Smiley, T.L. An Introduction to Tree-ring Dating. (1968). University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Stover, C.W., Coffman, J.L., (1993). Seismicity of the United States. 1568–1989 (Revised). U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1527 Google Scholar
Walpole, R.E., and Myers, R.H. Probability and Statistics for Engineers and Scientists. 4th ed. (1992). MacMillan, New York.Google Scholar
Williams, P.L., Jacoby, G.C., Buckley, B., (1992). Coincident ages of large landslides in Seattle’s Lake Washington. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 24, (5), 90 Google Scholar
Witkind, I.J., and Stickney, M.C. The Hebgen Lake earthquake area. Beus, S.S. Centennial Field Guide, Rocky Mountain Section v. 2, (1987). Geological Society of America, Boulder. 89 94.Google Scholar