A landslide is a mass-movement phenomenon in which soil, rock, regolith, or debris moves downslope under the influence of gravity, often along a discrete shear surface or failure plane. It encompasses diverse mechanisms such as rotational and translational slides, debris flows, rockfalls, and avalanches, typically initiated when driving forces exceed resisting forces due to factors like pore-water pressure increase, seismic shaking, weathering, or anthropogenic slope modification. Landslides are characterized by rapid to extremely rapid kinematics, spatial heterogeneity of displacement, and strong dependence on lithology, structural discontinuities, hydrological conditions, and topography, and are central to geomorphological evolution and natural hazard assessment.
New research has found that 6.5 million Americans live in homes on or near landslide-prone slopes. With a single map, local governments and residents can now see landslide hazard hotspots at the regional, state and county ...
Earth Sciences
5 hours ago
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The seafloor plays an important ecological and societal role. Understanding the processes that shape this environment will help guide conservation policy and decision-making about underwater infrastructure and geohazards.
Earth Sciences
Jul 22, 2026
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The European Space Agency's Mars Express has spotted a swath of metallic-looking waves filling Mars's large Kaiser Crater—an ancient and otherworldly dune field sculpted by wind.
Planetary Sciences
Jul 15, 2026
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Scientists have detected evidence of landslides on Pluto for the first time. A paper published in the journal Icarus reports that images taken by the New Horizons spacecraft during a flyby revealed six large landslides in ...
A new international study involving scientists from the University of Aberdeen has revealed a critical blind spot in global climate risk assessments—the growing danger posed by small alpine lakes formed by glacier retreat ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 10, 2026
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Following a four-year study, scientists at UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography released a new report to determine whether an early warning system could detect a landslide before it happens. The "California ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 9, 2026
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Researchers at University of Tsukuba analyzed high-resolution topographic data from airborne LiDAR to examine the relationships among landslide area, depth, and slope gradient.
Earth Sciences
Jul 6, 2026
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While many people migrate because of social and economic inequalities, forced migration is caused by political conflicts, lack of access to food and—increasingly—a lack of access to water.
Environment
Jun 29, 2026
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Artificial intelligence (AI) can identify landslides and other geological changes that threaten electricity transmission towers, potentially helping operators intervene before infrastructure fails, according to research in ...
Environment
Jun 24, 2026
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Arsenio Butil Jr. fell to his knees and began to pray when last week's deadly 7.8-magnitude earthquake began shaking his home on the coast of the southern Philippines.
Environment
Jun 19, 2026
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