GSA ENGINEERING GEOLOGY DIVISION’S RICHARD H. JAHNS DISTINGUISHED LECTURER: THE ENGINEERING GEOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT OF A LANDSLIDE EVENT

The Environmental and Engineering Geology Division of GSA and the Association of Environmental and Engineering Geologists jointly established the Richard H. Jahns Distinguished Lectureship in 1988 to commemorate Richard H. Jahns (1915–83) and his contributions to the engineering geology profession. As the 2014-2015 Richard H. Jahns Distinguished Lecturer in Applied Geology, it has been an honor to represent the profession through my lecture tour. I offered 8 different talks on various geohazards and geohazard mitigation and have given them all to good reviews. Through July, I have given 71 talks to 61 different groups (colleges, professional groups, organizations) in 21 US states and 6 countries, and am currently scheduling for fall semester talks. Based on the first part of my year, I should get to 100+ talks before my term ends at the 2015 GSA Annual Meeting.

The geological factors that lead to a landslide event are discoverable after the failure, but that is too late to prevent societal losses such as the catastrophic failure in Oso WA. Nevertheless, it is frequently the role of the engineering geologist to investigate these disasters, to help develop the theory of the failure, and sadly, to help to assign responsibilities for accountability. Unfortunately, it is all too common that we do not learn the simple lessons from these disasters, but seem doomed to repeat them. This Jahns Lecture stems from a landslide disaster investigation that was undertaken to determine what happened, why did it happen, was it knowable in advance, and what future risks are out there. The study provides an excellent case study to present landslide terminology and morphology, investigative and analytical techniques, and the multiple causative factors that all combine to contribute to the final failure trigger. The talk is designed to walk students through the various steps involved in any landslide investigation and its analysis, and for them to be able to understand how the various factors contribute to the failure, and hopefully, for them to better consider how to prevent such future failures.