 | Many factors can cause rock and soil to
move downhill. Sometimes the movement is slow, but often it is fast and can
destroy homes or cover roads and highways.
This section introduces you
to landslides, one of the most common geologic hazards in North Carolina and the
processes behind them; scroll down for more information.
Also available
on this page are links to county-specific information for the three North
Carolina counties that have mapping completed for landslide hazards, Macon, Watauga, and
Buncombe. These counties are shown on the map
below.
Click on one of these colored counties in the map below to view
available landslide hazard information for that county, or select from the the
county name listings above or below the map.
Landslides are most common in the mountain region of North Carolina because
of steep slopes. The Piedmont and Coastal Plain regions also have landslides
that are commonly related to human activity such as making a road cut too steep.
Large rainstorms, hurricanes, freeze-thaw processes and human activities all can
trigger lanslides. There are many types of landslides made of different types of
material that travel at different speeds. Some landslides only consist of soil,
called an earthslide. Some are a mixture of soil, rock trees and mud, called a
debris flow. Other landslides contain only rock, called a rockfall or rockslide.
Selected examples
The following images show selected examples of the destructive effects of
landslides. One example of the direct and indirect cost of landslides is the
Pigeon River Gorge rockslide (see below). Road repair and stabilization costs
exceeded $10 million. Indirect costs, such as interruption of business, commerce
and tourism because of lengthy detours, probably exceed(Left) -- Boulders on the Blue Ridge Parkway from the April 24, 2003, rockslide
near Potato Field Gap, northeast of Asheville. The 165-ton boulder is being
broken down to fit into a dump truck.ed $5 million (Left) -- Boulders on the Blue Ridge Parkway from the April 24, 2003, rockslide
near Potato Field Gap, northeast of Asheville. The 165-ton boulder is being
broken down to fit into a d..(Left) -- Boulders on the Blue Ridge Parkway from the April 24, 2003, rockslide
near Potato Field Gap, northeast of Asheville. The 165-ton boulder is being
broken down to fit into a d.
(Left) -- Boulders on the Blue Ridge Parkway from the April 24, 2003, rockslide
near Potato Field Gap, northeast of Asheville. The 165-ton boulder is being
broken down to fit into a dump truck.
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