Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Skip to content

Summary Metadata for Inventory data of rock avalanches in the Saint Elias Mountains of southeast Alaska, derived from Landsat Imagery (1984-2019)

Metadata Updated: July 6, 2024

Glacial retreat and mountain-permafrost degradation resulting from rising global temperatures have the potential to impact the frequency and magnitude of landslides in glaciated environments. In the Saint Elias Mountains of southeast Alaska, the presence of weak sedimentary and metamorphic rocks and active uplift resulting from the collision of the Yakutat and North American tectonic plates create landslide-prone conditions (Winkler et al., 2000). We used Landsat imagery to create an inventory of large (>0.1 square km) rock avalanches that occurred along the south flank of the Saint Elias Mountains between 1984 and 2019 as a baseline for present and future changes in landslide magnitude and frequency. This data release presents geographic information system (GIS) and attribute data for 220 rock avalanches in a 3700 square km area of the Saint Elias Mountains, Alaska. Map data consist of polygons delineating total rock avalanche areas (StEliasRockAvalanches.shp), headscarp points (StEliasRockAvHS.shp), and travel distance lines (StEliasRockAvTD.shp). Attribute data for mapped rock avalanches include area (undifferentiated source and deposit areas), travel distance (L), fall height (H), ratio of H/L, and headscarp location (latitude, longitude), elevation, slope, and aspect. Attribute data also include the event date range and information on the Landsat images used to identify and map each rock avalanche. Data are provided as point, line, and polygon shape files (.shp). We also include information on the Landsat images that were used for rock avalanche identification and mapping (LandsatImagery.csv). References: Winkler, G.R., MacKevett, E.M., Plafker, G. Jr., Richter, D.H., Rosenkrans, D.S., and Schmoll, H.R. (2000). A geologic guide to Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska, A tectonic collage of northbound terranes. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1616. Reston: U.S. Geological Survey, 166 p.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

Downloads & Resources

Dates

Metadata Created Date June 1, 2023
Metadata Updated Date July 6, 2024

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI EDI

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date June 1, 2023
Metadata Updated Date July 6, 2024
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
@Id http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/848640d9c54581bdf4f84a8d43ca94c0
Identifier USGS:5ec349de82ce476925e8a155
Data Last Modified 20200820
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://datainventory.doi.gov/data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id 26d3ca0d-a060-4878-891b-432a824ff0d8
Harvest Source Id 52bfcc16-6e15-478f-809a-b1bc76f1aeda
Harvest Source Title DOI EDI
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial -141.2206,59.961,-139.3567,60.3413
Publisher Hierarchy White House > U.S. Department of the Interior > U.S. Geological Survey
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash a86876c9b6243974b8e474d6add4281db2824f77962cbd7fe052f6b58b2408e4
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -141.2206, 59.961, -141.2206, 60.3413, -139.3567, 60.3413, -139.3567, 59.961, -141.2206, 59.961}

Didn't find what you're looking for? Suggest a dataset here.