LIDAR technology helps to map landslides

’Our findings are important for assessing geological hazards and reducing the dangers to human settlements,’ said Prof Jon Bull of the university’s School of Ocean and Earth Science, based at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton.

’LIDAR uses the time taken for reflected light to return from objects or surfaces to determine their range, in a similar manner to radar. It can be used to monitor coastal evolution, and to identify and precisely measure landform changes resulting from geological events such as landslides,’ said PhD student Helen Miller, who worked on the research project.

Information was collected from the small coastal town of Matata, located on the Bay of Plenty at the northern end of New Zealand’s North Island, which was struck by devastating debris flows in May 2005.

The debris flows were liquefied landslides of water-saturated material including boulders, logs and other debris that swept away cars and buildings. They resulted from torrential rain that triggered widespread landslides in the catchments of the Awatarariki and Waitepuru streams in the steeply rising hills behind the town.