The project will investigate the relationships between the subsurface hydrology of hillsides and landsliding related to timber harvesting. The field and modelling analysis will provide new insight into the evolution of landforms on steep forested slopes and on their potential for landslides which have already resulted in serious damages and losses in various parts of the United States. The work will be carried out at a site in the Pacific Northwest where field equipment will be built and installed, monitoring and site characterization will be conducted, a kinematic cascade model of subsurface hillslope hydrology will be developed and will be compared with other three-dimensional models. Finally, the hydrology model will be tested against field data. Results of this study will improve the engineering capabilities for the analysis of the design and layout of timber harvesting units and logging roads.
