Landslides Impacting Linear Infrastructure in West Central British Columbia
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Nat Hazards (2009) 48:59–72 DOI 10.1007/s11069-008-9248-0 ORIGINAL PAPER Landslides impacting linear infrastructure in west central British Columbia M. Geertsema Æ J. W. Schwab Æ A. Blais-Stevens Æ M. E. Sakals Received: 22 November 2007 / Accepted: 29 April 2008 / Published online: 22 May 2008 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2008 Abstract Destructive landslides are common in west central British Columbia. Land- slides include debris flows and slides, earth flows and flowslides, rock falls, slides, and avalanches, and complex landslides involving both rock and soil. Pipelines, hydrotrans- mission lines, roads, and railways have all been impacted by these landslides, disrupting service to communities. We provide examples of the destructive landslides, their impacts, and the climatic conditions associated with the failures. We also consider future land- sliding potential for west central British Columbia under climate change scenarios. Keywords Landslide Linear infrastructure Climate change British Columbia Á Á Á 1 Introduction West central British Columbia (BC) is a rugged but sparsely populated portion of the province (Fig. 1). Nevertheless, the area hosts important transportation corridors, linking its communities and providing Canadian access to the orient. Infrastructure includes roads, railways, hydrotransmission lines, and hydrocarbon pipelines. The cities of Kitimat and Prince Rupert are important deep sea ports that are expected to undergo substantial growth to meet the needs of growing Asian economies. Recently, major oil pipelines have been proposed, connecting the North American network to a Pacific tidewater port at Kitimat. The purpose of this article is to provide examples of various types of destructive landslides that impact linear infrastructure in west central BC. The list is by no means M. Geertsema (&) Northern Interior Forest Region, BC Forest Service, 1011, 4th Avenue, Prince George, BC, Canada V2L 3H9 e-mail: [email protected] J. W. Schwab M. E. Sakals Northern InteriorÁ Forest Region, BC Forest Service, Smithers, BC, Canada V0J 2N0 A. Blais-Stevens Geological Survey of Canada, 601 Booth Street, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1A 0E8 123 60 Nat Hazards (2009) 48:59–72 Fig. 1 Landslides and linear infrastructure in west central BC. The landslides shown are described in the text and represent a portion of actual landslides in the area. Numbers represent landslides that are listed in Table 1 all-inclusive, and many more events have occurred that are not recorded here. We also consider the impact of projected climate change on the incidence of future landslides. 2 Setting The study area is located within the coast, Hazelton, and Skeena mountain ranges of northwestern BC (Holland 1976; Mathews 1986). These mountains are part of the north- west trending geological zones within the Canadian Cordillera called the Coast-Cascades Belt and the Intermontane Belt. The area consists of rugged mountains cut by deep valleys containing glacial and post-glacial sediments. Most mountains have rounded, dome-like tops from glacial overriding with relatively uniform elevations varying between 1,800 and 2,400 m. Higher peaks, up to 2,800 m, are more rugged as they were nunataks during the last glaciation (Holland 1976; Clague 1984). Topography strongly influences air temperature and precipitation in the area. Tem- peratures decrease with increasing elevation and distance inland. For example, in January, the mean coastal temperature at Prince Rupert (52 masl) is 1.8°C. In comparison, roughly 350 km in-land in the Bulkley Valley at Smithers (515 masl), the mean temperature is - 10.5°C. Moreover, mean July temperatures vary between 14 and 17°C in the valleys and decrease by several degrees with elevation. The predominant flow of moisture-laden air travels toward the east from the Pacific Ocean. Mean annual precipitation values for coastal mountains exceed 2,500 mm and can be greater than 3,500 mm in some areas. There is a marked decrease in precipitation toward the east. For example, in the Bulkley 123 Nat Hazards (2009) 48:59–72 61 Valley, mean annual precipitation values range between 400 and 500 mm. The main valleys of the study area lie within the Coastal Western Hemlock and Sub-Boreal Spruce biogeoclimatic zones. At higher elevations, the Mountain-Hemlock, Engelmann Spruce- Subalpine Fir, and Alpine Tundra zones occur (Meidinger and Pojar 1991). On the coast, the bedrock lies within the Coast-Cascades Belt. It is mainly composed of Paleozoic to early Tertiary granitic rocks and Proterozoic to Paleozoic high-grade meta- morphic rocks. Toward the east, the bedrock is part of the Intermontane Belt, which consists of sedimentary and volcanic rocks of Jurassic–Cretaceous age intruded by Cre- taceous–early Tertiary felsitic to porphyritic plugs (Duffel and Souther 1964). The surficial geology of the area was mapped and described by Clague (1984). During the last glaciation the area was covered by the Cordilleran Ice Sheet. The types of sedi- ments deposited were mainly cobbly to bouldery tills. During glaciation, the weight of the ice sheet caused isostatic depression of the lithospheric crust. During deglaciation (10–11 ka BP), the crust slowly rebounded, but at a much lower rate than the melting of the ice sheet. This caused coastal river valleys to be inundated by marine waters. Glaciomarine sediments, mainly laminated silts and clays, were deposited as glaciers melted and retreated up the valleys. In areas where ice was at a standstill for an extended period of time (e.g., Terrace), deltaic sands and gravels were deposited. The northwest trending rugged topography poses serious challenges for linear devel- opment. Only certain valleys and passes are suitable for east–west oriented infrastructure. Together with steep, unstable rock masses and weak soils, the terrain in west central BC places constraints on development. 3 Methods Landslide data in the study area have been compiled by the BC Forest Service research program since the mid-1970s. Landslides were identified from earlier reports, aerial photography, and satellite imagery. Their dimensions and travel angles were obtained from field measurements and from orthorectified aerial imagery. Volumes were calculated from field measurements and from detailed pre- and post-landslide digital elevation models. Landslides were classified according to Cruden and Varnes (1996) and Hungr et al. (2001). 3.1 Landslide types impacting linear infrastructure Numerous types of landslides are common in the varied terrain of west central BC. We provide examples of a few of the landslides that have damaged linear infrastructure in the region. We also make reference to a number of significant landslides that have not dam- aged infrastructure. Included are large rock slides, some of which transformed into debris avalanches and/or flows, debris flows, debris slides and avalanches, earth flows in glacial lake sediments, in colluvium and in till, and flowslides in sensitive glaciomarine sediments and in glaciolacustrine deposits. We define slides as movements along one or several discrete rupture surfaces and flows as movements with significant internal distortion and many short-lived rupture surfaces (Cruden and Varnes 1996). Like Hungr et al. (2001), we use the term avalanche for unconfined flows and flow for movements in channels. We use earth flow in the traditional sense of a slow moving body of plastic earth with a lobate zone of accumulation. We restrict the term flowslide to rapid translational movements in gla- ciomarine and glaciolacustrine clays. See Table 1 for landslide descriptions. The locations of the described landslides and others are shown in Fig. 1. 123 62 Nat Hazards (2009) 48:59–72 Table 1 Landslide data Number Landslide name Date Latitude/longitude Infrastructure on map impacted I. Landslides in rock Rock slide 1 Fossil Bed Prehistoric 54°300 N, 127°530 W Forest road 2 Kitsequela 2006 55°050 N, 127°560 W Highway 3 Cedarvale 2004 54°500 N, 128°200 W Highway 4 Dungate Prehistoric 54°200 N, 126°340 W 5 Buck Creek Prehistoric 54°220 N, 126°360 W Rock fall–avalanche 6 China Nose Prehistoric 54°230 N, 126°220 W Rock spread 7 Parrot 1 Ongoing 54°050 N, 126°180 W 8 Parrot 2 Prehistoric 54°040 N, 126°170 W II. Landslides in rock and soil Rock slide–debris avalanche 9 Sutherland 2005 54°220 N, 124°550 W Rock slide–debris avalanche–debris flow 10 Harold Price 2002 55°040 N, 126°570 W Rock slide–debris flow 11 Zymoetz 2002 54°240 N, 128°130 W Road, pipeline 12 Howson I 1991 54°330 N, 127°440 W Pipeline 13 Howson II 1999 54°310 N, 127°460 W Pipeline 14 Chicago Creek *4000 BP 55°110 N, 127°380 W Indian village 15 Bishop Bay 2002 53°280 N, 128°510 W III. Landslides in soil Debris slides–avalanches–flows 16 Kaien Island 1908, 1957 54°170 N, 130°160 W Road (2 events) 17 Kaien Island 1957, 1974, 1985 54°180 N, 130°180 W Road, power line (3 events) 18 Kaien Island 1891, 1917, 54°150 N, 130°200 W Rail ([5 events) 1974, 1978 19 Porcher Island 1998, 2002 54°000 N, 130°200 W Power line (2 events) 20 Port Simpson 2002 54°290 N, 130°210 W Road and power line (13 events) 21 Inverness 1891,1917, 1935, 54°120 N, 130°140 W Building, roads, rail ([5 events) 1972, 1978 22 North Pacific 2002 54°110 N, 130°130 W Road Cannery (2 events) 23 Inverness Cannery 1891, 1917, 1962, 54°100 N, 130°100 W Building, rail, roads ([5 events) 1978, 2002 24 Twidledee 2005 54°130 N, 130°060 W Highway 25 Work Channel 2005 54°160 N, 129°570 W Pipeline 26 Green river 1917 54°120 N, 130°000 W 123 Nat Hazards (2009) 48:59–72 63 Table 1 continued Number