Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Terrestrial Laser Scanning Data from the Confluence of the South Yuba River and Humbug Creek, Nevada County, California, 2011-2013

Published by U.S. Geological Survey | Department of the Interior | Catalog Last Checked: May 05, 2026 at 10:09 PM | Dataset Last Updated: July 07, 2022 at 12:00 AM
High-resolution, terrestrial laser scanning, also known as ground-based lidar (light detection and ranging), was used to quantify the volume of mercury-contaminated sediment eroded from an outcrop of historical placer-mining debris at the confluence of the South Yuba River and Humbug Creek in the Sierra Nevada mountains, about 17 kilometers northeast of Grass Valley, California. The outcrop could not be mapped non-destructively or in sufficient detail by traditional surveying techniques. Terrestrial laser scanning was used to produce centimeter-scale, three-dimensional maps of the complex outcrop surface at the study site, which was approximately 70 meters long, 30 meters wide and 20 meters high. The outcrop surface was composed of an upper erosional area (cliff area) and a lower depositional area (colluvial slope). The study site was surveyed four times in 2 years (December 15, 2011; October 25, 2012; January 4, 2013; and November 22, 2013). For each survey, the upper erosional area and a lower depositional area were isolated and separated so that volumetric comparisons could be made.

Resources

2 resources available

Find Related Datasets

data.gov

An official website of the GSA's Technology Transformation Services

Looking for U.S. government information and services?
Visit USA.gov