When many people think of natural extremes associated with Indiana — tornadoes and frigid or scorching temperatures — landslides rarely come to mind. But thanks to Victoria Leffel and her team on an Indiana Geological and Water Survey project to identify, map and address landslide risks throughout the state, that might change.
Leffel’s particular interest in Indiana landslides dates to her previous work with the Indiana Department of Transportation.
“Coming from INDOT, I knew that there were landslides within the state, but this hasn’t been an area that has a great amount of research for Indiana,” Leffel, the project’s lead researcher, said.
To raise this issue’s visibility, Leffel has used elevation data collected by the state to make 3-D models into slope maps that give strong indications of landslide risk areas. This information is all visible through a computer, making the landslide risk identification process, in Leffel’s words, “quick and easy.”
The data collected by the survey is being used to create an inventory of landslide risk areas, focusing on southeast Indiana — including the Bloomington area — which sees a much higher landslide density than the northern regions of the state.
Once Leffel’s team has compiled this inventory, they will enter the field to verify their data. However, this verification can only take place at particular times of year.
“Field work is pretty seasonal: when trees have all their leaves on them, it’s hard to get good pictures of all the landslide features, and we need to document them properly,” Nick Angelos, a geospatial analyst at the survey, said. “This spring, we’ll be going out in the field again for a series of months, before going back into the inventorying and publishing side of things.”
Because landslides tend to take place in areas where they have already occurred, the survey’s research could prove critical to the safety of Indiana residents.
“Once we get our inventory finished, we could further derive products, like landslide risk maps, and add more social data to our analysis,” Angelos said.
By better informing the public of landslide risk, especially given that insurance rarely covers damage incurred from landslides, Leffel believes more robust steps toward landslide safety will be possible.
“People are drawn to the hills with the scenic view, but if that scenic view comes with a maintenance hazard or lower property values, this information could have an impact on where people decide to live,” Leffel said. “It could potentially be incorporated into zoning, too.”
Outside of field work, Angelos ensures that the survey’s data meets publishable standards, secures the quality of the project’s metadata and “packages” the information for universal, easily-digestible use.
From there, the data is passed along to Sara Clifford, who, having 20 years of experience as a journalist before joining the survey, helps facilitate the research publication process. Clifford’s work entails relaying the survey’s findings to qualified reviewers, returning those reviewers’ feedback for revision and finally, sending the researchers’ revised work to publishers. This multi-step journey toward publication ensures that Leffel’s team delivers the highest-quality information possible to the public.
“My job is to pass these findings through multiple hands and make sure that there’s some agreement before it goes out to the public,” Clifford said. “We definitely want to increase transparency around this data — it’s not something that’s really known about Indiana — so we want to make sure that it’s verifiable and has truth behind it.”
Ultimately, the survey’s goal is to increase awareness surrounding the issue of landslides in Indiana. Delivering accessible information about landslide risk into the hands of the public is central to this project’s mission.
“Some of the signs of landslides can be subtle,” Clifford said. “Even the public with a non-science background can go through our data and understand that there are signs that they can notice and understand their roles in avoiding landslides without having to be scientists.”
More information on the survey’s work is available here.
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Victoria Leffel's name.
