6 Applied Geological Investigations at State Geological Surveys in the Northeastern Section of GSA (Posters)

This technical session will highlight the high-level, applied work done by state geological surveys to address diverse environmental issues including geologic hazards, groundwater and surface water, and economic mineral deposits in the Northeast Section region.

Sunday, 22 March 2026
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
CCC, Ballroom C

Developing a Comprehensive Landslide Inventory for Improved Hazard Planning in Vermont

Paper number: 6-6
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 8:00 AM – 8:00 AM

Authors

Abstract

The Vermont Geological Survey (VGS) and partners have engaged in landslide-related work for several decades, including storm response, site-specific investigations, and maintenance of a point-based landslide inventory. Historically, the landslide inventory consisted of LiDAR-based mapping completed in select counties and isolated field surveys from various sources. While this database has provided a critical foundation for assessing landslide hazards in Vermont, significant spatial data gaps and attribute inconsistencies impede proactive hazard planning such as landslide susceptibility modeling. The need to address these data limitations was magnified following extreme precipitation events in 2023 and 2024, which resulted in federal disaster declarations, widespread property loss, and community displacement.

Through collaboration with state and academic partners, and with funding support from the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the VGS is expanding the landslide inventory database to include 10 counties without comprehensive inventories. To maintain the accuracy and efficacy of this dataset while expanding its spatial coverage, we employ a simplified mapping protocol with a limited set of priority attributes and a combination of statewide LIDAR-derived elevation products, historical aerial imagery, geologic maps, and hydrologic datasets. While the VGS intends to expand the schema to include important quantitative and categorical information, current manual fields include mapper confidence, suspected landslide activity, material, original mapping source and general comments. Additional attribute fields are populated using spatial analysis after digitization such as mean slope and landslide area (m2) .

Using this approach, the VGS and its partners have mapped approximately 1,300 landslide polygons across southern Vermont. With this addition, the database contains information for approximately 3,900 landslides. Preliminary results reiterate a high density of slope failure events on steep slopes along river corridors in the Green and Taconic Mountains of Vermont. Other spatial and geologic relationships emerge including the intersection of Vermont’s glacial and bedrock history with landslide susceptibility. Leveraging quality-level 1 LiDAR (8 points/m2) collected in 2023 enables mapping of dormant, upland landslides, revealing patterns of past slope instability and areas where development has overprinted landslide deposits. This work is ongoing and directly informs a statistically based landslide susceptibility model throughout its development. The VGS aims to maintain the inventory as a dynamic database serving diverse end users including emergency managers, state and academic research groups, regional planning commissions, and the public.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 58, No. 2

doi: 10.1130/abs/2026NE-411388

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