Landslide *

Description:

A mass of sliding earth, mud, or rock.

Secondary Effects:

Slumpage or subsidence. Damage to homes, roads, and property. Possible damage to utilities such as water and sewer mains in urban areas.

Vulnerability:

Most documented landslides have occurred in glacial-marine clay deposits in the valleys and lowlands of southern Maine. Evidence of small slides (which can be very slow in movement) is common along steep valley sides and shorelines in these clay deposits. However, large destructive slides are rare. The most recent one was in April of 1996 when a steep bluff along the north shore of Rockland Harbor slumped toward the ocean. Gradual erosion of marine bluffs is a continuing natural process affecting much of the coast.

Mitigation:

Marine geologists of the Maine Geological Survey map and study areas that may be more susceptible to various types of bluff erosion. Their materials are available to city and regional planners.

The north shore of Rockland Harbor was one of several areas identified as potentially hazardous in a book published in 1989, Living with the Coast of Maine by Joseph T. Kelley, Alice R. Kelley, and Orrin H. Pilkey, Sr.

The City of Rockland hired a private geotechnical engineering firm to undertake a stabilization project that was completed in September of 1997. They have also commissioned a detailed engineering study of the north shore of Rockland Harbor in order to better understand the geologic situation. As a result, they hope to minimize further property damage that is caused by bluff erosion.

Careful planning and zoning are encouraged. Retaining open spaces in vulnerable areas not only enhances the worth of the surrounding area, but may prevent future destruction.

* An occurrence of this hazard could possibly be initiated by a deliberate act.

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MAINE PREPARES

Landslide *

Description:

Secondary Effects:

Vulnerability:

Mitigation:

MAINE HAZARDS