Landslide inventory Mackenzie Corridor (southern part), Northwest Territories

The Mackenzie landslide database was compiled as part of the Climate Change Program of the Geological Survey of Canada. The Mackenzie landslide database is a compilation of information on landslides occurring within the Mackenzie valley and adjacent mountainous areas and the Mackenzie Delta and adjacent Beaufort Sea Coast. The database is in Excel 5 spreadsheet format and is accompanied by maps depicting landslide location. The Mackenzie landslide database (maps and digital spreadsheet files) is presented in three parts: 1) Geological Survey of Canada Open File 3915: "Landslide inventory, Mackenzie corridor (southern part)" by J.M. Aylsworth and J.A. Traynor, covers the region from 60°-64°N and includes NTS map sheets 85 D to E and 95 A to C, F to K, N to O. Database is accompanied by a map depicting landslide location, differentiated by type, on a generalized surficial geology background (Fulton, 1995). 2) Geological Survey of Canada Open File 3916: "Landslide inventory, Mackenzie corridor (central part)" by A. Duk-Rodkin and T. Robertson, covers the region from 64°-68°N and includes NTS map sheets 96 C to F and 106 G to P. Database is accompanied by a map depicting landslide location, differentiated by type, on a generalized surficial geology background (Fulton, 1995). 3) Geological Survey of Canada Open File 3917: "Landslide inventory, Mackenzie Delta and adjacent Beaufort Sea coast" (68°-70°N) by J.M.Aylsworth, J.A. Traynor and G. Krusynski, covers the region from 68°-70°N and includes NTS map sheets 107 B-C (partial) and 117 D-E (partial). Database is accompanied by a map depicting landslide location, differentiated by type. The full database contains 2014 entries, of which 55% represent individual landslides and a further 10% represent a pair of closely spaced landslides. The remaining 35% of entries represent clusters of closely spaced landslides with numbers ranging from 3 to >30 landslides per cluster, with most clusters consisting of fewer than 10. These clusters mainly represent groups of adjacent, small retrogressive thaw flows in the northern third of the inventory area, although, in places, they represent a section of continuous riverbank characterized by adjacent rotational slides. The database contains information on landslide location, class and type of failure, dimensions, description of bedrock lithology or unconsolidated sediments, age if known, additional comments if any, airphoto numbers, and references if available. Each information field is described fully in the next section. Compilation of the landslide inventory is based primarily on the interpretation of airphotos or compilation from existing surficial geology maps. For the most part, the latter maps were also produced mainly from airphoto interpretation. North of 68° latitude, the interpretation is based on 1985 images, and 1970 to 1981 airphotos were used between 68°and 64°N. Between 64° and 60°N, most of the landslides in the area were compiled from existing surficial geology maps based on 1948 to 1972 airphotos; however, within a corridor extending approximately 3 km on either side of the Mackenzie and Liard rivers, all available airphoto images (1947 to 1990) were re-examined during this project. Because most of the inventory is based upon airphoto interpretation in an area which has been irregularly and infrequently flown, most entries in the database are accurate only to the date of the most recent airphoto listed and comments, activity, measurements etc. must be understood to apply to the date of the airphoto and not to the present time. We welcome any additions to the database, in complete or partial form. The database will be up-dated as new landslides are reported.