TY - Generic T1 - Landslides from Tropical Storm Irene in the Deerfield Watershed, western Massachusetts T2 - Abstracts with Programs - Geological Society of America Y1 - 2013 A1 - Stephen B Mabee A1 - Jonathan D Woodruff A1 - Fellows, John A1 - Joseph P Kopera KW - #Landslides KW - #NaturalHazards KW - #StaffPubs KW - Cold River KW - Deerfield Watershed KW - effects KW - Environmental geology KW - geologic hazards KW - Irene KW - landslide KW - landslides KW - mass movements KW - massachusetts KW - natural hazards KW - storms KW - Tropical Storm Irene KW - United States KW - western Massachusetts AB - Four landslides (3 translational debris flows and 1 rotational slide) occurred along the Cold River within the Deerfield River watershed (1440 km (super 2) ) in northwestern Massachusetts closing a six mile section of Route 2, a major east-west transportation corridor, for 3.5 months. These are among the largest landslides to occur in Massachusetts since 1901. Tropical storm Irene dropped 180-250+ mm of rain in a 12 to 15-hour period on the Deerfield watershed preceded by 130-180 mm of rain in the 1.5 weeks leading up to Irene. Soils were saturated, an unusual condition for the month of August, and probably contributed significantly to slope failure. The three translational slides occurred at approximately 10 am on August 28, 2011, involved 765 m of slope at an average angle of 28-33 degrees , covered an area of 1.2 ha and moved about 7645 m (super 3) of material. Bedrock sheeting joints oriented parallel to the slope (284 degrees , 38-40 degrees dip) provided the slip surface upon which the overlying 0.6-1.2 m of colluvium and glacial till slid. The rotational slide occurred along an unarmored section of the Cold River. The slip surface was a 4-8 foot thick layer of laminated lake-bottom sediments overlain by 12-19 feet of stream terrace and debris flow/alluvial fan deposits transported by Trout Brook, a smaller tributary to the Cold River. This section of Route 2 has experienced chronic failures beginning with the storm of 1938. The cost to repair this six-mile section of Route 2 was $22.5 million. Flooding within the Deerfield watershed was extreme with a record-breaking peak flow of 3100 m (super 3) /s (72 year record) where the Deerfield enters the Connecticut River. Approximately 1.6x10 (super 8) m (super 3) of water was discharged through the Deerfield during the event indicating that approximately 112 mm of Irene's rainfall was converted directly to runoff, a yield of between 45% and 62%. Clays and silts locked in storage in the glacial sediments within the watershed were mobilized resulting in record-breaking sediment loads 5-times greater than predicted from the pre-existing rating curve. Approximately 1.2 Mtonnes of sediment was discharged by the river during Irene. Where the Deerfield and Connecticut Rivers meet, the Deerfield watershed area is one tenth the size of the Connecticut River, yet the Deerfield produced as much as 40% of the total sediment observed on the lower Connecticut. JF - Abstracts with Programs - Geological Society of America PB - Geological Society of America (GSA) : Boulder, CO, United States CY - United States VL - 45 SN - 00167592 UR - https://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2013NE/webprogram/Paper215998.html IS - 11 N1 - Accession Number: 2014-027064; Conference Name: Geological Society of America, Northeastern Section, 48th annual meeting; Bretton Woods, NH, United States; Conference Date: 20130318; Language: English; Coordinates: N411500N425500W0695500W0733000; Coden: GAAPBC; Collation: 2; Collation: 83-84; Publication Types: Abstract Only; Serial; Conference document; Updated Code: 201417; Monograph Title: Geological Society of America, Northeastern Section, 48th annual meeting; Monograph Author(s): Anonymous; Reviewed Item: Analytic JO - Abstracts with Programs - Geological Society of America ER - TY - Generic T1 - Subtle modification of glacially derived materials along Massachusetts’ southern coast by passing summer storms T2 - Abstracts with Programs - Geological Society of America Y1 - 2015 A1 - Nicholas L Venti A1 - Sabina Gessay A1 - Paul Southard A1 - Douglass Beach A1 - Margot Mansfield A1 - Stephen B Mabee A1 - Jonathan D Woodruff KW - #StaffPubs KW - Barges Beach KW - beach KW - beach erosion KW - beach profile KW - BOEM KW - Buzzard's Bay KW - climate change KW - coast KW - coastal KW - cobble KW - Cuttyhunk Island KW - dune KW - East beach KW - Edgartown KW - erosion KW - Falmouth KW - grain-size KW - Horseneck beach KW - intertidal KW - Low beach KW - Martha's Vineyard KW - Miacomet beach KW - Nantucket KW - nourishment KW - Oak Bluffs KW - offshore KW - onshore KW - Plum Island KW - profiles KW - sand KW - sea level rise KW - storm KW - Surf Beach KW - Sylvia State beaches KW - Town beach KW - Westport KW - winter storm AB - Engineered resupply of sand to coastal environments, i.e. nourishment, offers an attractive short-term strategy to address beach erosion in Massachusetts. For efficient nourishment, site-specific knowledge of seasonal grain size and sediment volume variability at eroding beaches is essential. We have begun measuring grain size and profile at 22 eroding Massachusetts beaches, capturing summer and winter conditions at each site through four to nine representative transects perpendicular to the shore and spaced 100-500 meters apart. Our recently completed first summer field season (August/September 2014) visited eight beaches along Massachusetts’ south coast from Rhode Island to Nantucket. These environments should reflect regional glacial history and a summer interval of reduced storm activity. Where unstratified surficial materials characterize the coast, erosion of glacial till (Horseneck and East beaches, Westport) and end moraine (Barges Beach, Cuttyhunk Island; Town and Sylvia State beaches, Oak Bluffs/Edgartown) can yield cobble berms capping steep intertidal zones. We noted that increased wave activity during storms strips a thin (inches-thick) layer of intertidal sand to reveal gravel and cobble below, while leaving beach profile essentially unchanged. In contrast, where (cobble-free) glacial outwash intersects the coast (Surf Beach, Falmouth; Miacomet and Low beaches, Nantucket) sand and gravel are distributed more evenly across beach facies. Here passing summer storms modify beach profile but not grain size: high surf cuts sandy berms, shifting steepened intertidal zones landward. We will reoccupy south coast sites at the end of winter in 2015 to examine effects of seasonally related increase in storm (and wave) activity. Survey of Massachusetts’ east coast (Sandwich to New Hampshire) is planned for summer of 2015 and winter of 2016. Additionally, overwash sequences recovered through backbarrier basin coring at selected sites complement our beach survey by providing depositional records of particularly strong storms. Study results will allow identification of suitably matched nourishment sources onshore, or offshore, as described in Massachusetts’ Office of Coastal Zone Management’s extensive grain-size database. JF - Abstracts with Programs - Geological Society of America PB - Geological Society of America (GSA) : Boulder, CO, United States CY - Northeastern Section - 50th Annual Meeting (23–25 March 2015), Bretton Woods, NH VL - 47 UR - https://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2015NE/webprogram/Paper252510.html ER -