MAPPING LANDSLIDE HAZARDS IN A MIDCONTINENT URBAN AREA, KANSAS CITY, KANSAS

Landslides that have closed or blocked roads and damaged property and infrastructure occur scattered throughout Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas. The county can be divided into an urban region east of Interstate 435 and a region west of the interstate that is rapidly developing but still predominantly rural. A variety of landslide types occur including earth slides, earth flows, rock falls, rock slides, and combination forms like earth-slide flows. The landslides mainly occur in the bluffs and steep slopes associated with the Kansas and Missouri rivers, Turkey Creek, and their tributaries. Soils developed on Pennsylvanian-age bedrock appear to be the most susceptible; however, landslides are also observed in alluvium along streams, glacial drift, and loess. In more than half the county, the landscape has been modified by urbanization including transportation, residential, commercial, and industrial development. Quarrying and underground mining of limestone also have modified areas of the landscape. Although landscape modifications can have both positive and negative effects on slope stability, these modifications make it difficult to identify the muted features of landslides that occurred prior to development. The other anthropogenic activity that affects the identification of landslide features in urban areas is the modification of recently active landslides. Some recent landslides are stabilized or strengthened while other landslides are graded or terraced. Regardless, the distribution of identified landslide features with respect to slope and surface geologic unit is approximately the same for the urban area and the surrounding sparsely developed rural areas.