YUKON EXPLORATION AND GEOLOGY 2009 1
Preliminary description and slope stability analyses of the 2008 Little Salmon Lake and
2007 Mt. Steele landslides, Yukon
M.-A. Brideau and D. Stead
Preliminary description and slope stability analyses of the
2008 Little Salmon Lake and 2007 Mt. Steele landslides,
Yukon
Marc-André Brideau
1
and Doug Stead
Earth Science Department, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC
Panya Lipovsky
Yukon Geological Survey, Whitehorse, YT
Michel Jaboyedoff
Université de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
Christopher Hopkinson
Nova Scotia Community College, Annapolis Valley Campus, NS
Michael Demuth
Geological Survey of Canada, Ottawa, ON
John Barlow
Durham University, Durham, Great Britain
Steve Evans and Keith Delaney
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON
Brideau, M.-A., Stead, D., Lipovsky, P., Jaboyedoff, M., Hopkinson, C., Demuth, M., Barlow, J.,
Evans, S. and Delaney, K., 2010. Preliminary description and slope stability analyses of the 2008
Little Salmon Lake and 2007 Mt. Steele landslides, Yukon. In: Yukon Exploration and Geology 2009,
K.E. MacFarlane, L.H. Weston and L.R. Blackburn (eds.), Yukon Geological Survey, p. ?????.
ABSTRACT
In August 2008, reactivation of the Little Salmon Lake landslide occurred. During this event,
hundreds of conical mounds of variable size and composition formed in the deposition zone. The
characteristics of these landforms are described and a potential mechanism for their formation is
proposed. A preliminary slope stability analysis of the 2007 Mount Steele rock and ice avalanche
was also undertaken. The orientation of very high persistence (>20 m long) structural planes (e.g.
faults, joints and bedding) within bedrock in the source zone was obtained using an airborne-LiDAR
digital elevation model and the software COLTOP-3D. Using these discontinuity orientation
measurements, kinematic, surface wedge and simple three-dimensional distinct element slope
stability analyses were performed.
1
mbrideau@sfu.ca