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<br />003330 <br /> <br />In summary the most important accomplishments to date at Meadow Mountain <br />are installation of a landslide movement-monitoring system in a compoun. <br />landslide system whose various components exhibit differing styles of movement. <br /> <br />The "intermediate" landslide is the most threatening because approximate but <br />reasonable estimate(s) of volumes of material that could move and its current <br />movement indicate that it alone could dam the Eagle River, at least <br />temporarily, and permanently close the present alignment of U,S. Highway 24, <br />Such an event could be precursor to even larger scale movements in the main <br />Meadow Mountain feature as toe support in it would be considerably reduced. <br />Prediction of this is still impossible considering the relatively small amount <br />of data that a limited drilling program and short-term monitoring of EDM and <br />inclinometer stations has made available, <br /> <br />( <br />, <br /> <br />Dowds No.1 Landslide <br /> <br />The Dowds No, 1 landslide, located south of the Eagle River at Dowds <br />Junction, has had a recognized but poorly documented history of movement since <br />Interstate Highway 70 was built that has dislocated and damaged the nearby <br />highway bridge and its western approach. Prior to our field study of this <br />feature it was not known whether large scale catastrophic failure of the <br />landslide is possible, whether movement of it is seasonal. or whether the <br />overall composition of the landslide 'varies areally or with depth, <br /> <br />Because of the urgency to determine if catastrophic failure of the Dowds <br />No, 1 landslide was possible in the spring or summer of 1985 the first task <br />assigned to, the CDOH drilling crew was to drill two core holes at its base for <br />the purpose of installing inclinometers, These drill holes were made between <br />the on and off ramps to Interstate 'Highway 70 and the bridge abutment of the <br />highway bridge and 'were drilled to 180,5 ft (hole 1) and 160,5 ft (hole 2) <br />below ground level respectively (See location map,). They were drilled <br />through ancient river gravels, which represent a former course of the <br />ancestral Eagle River, into Minturn Formation bedrock, In hole 1 several, <br />important subsurface features were noted in the core, Several shear zones <br />were encountered with the first occurring at about 45 ft, another at 75 ft <br />where surprisingly a piece of non-carbonized wood was cored (This was <br />subsequently radiocarbon dated as 8440 + 100 years before present,) and the <br />one that we interpreted as the basal landslide shear zone at 165 ft below the <br />ground surface, The ancient river gravels were encountered nearly <br />continuousJy in the cor;e,demonstrating that,the_l an,dslide'dor a,t,l east the toe <br />or lower part of it involved and probably forced the'river course to the <br />north, Whether this movement dammed the river in the past is not known, but <br />it appears as if this certainly might have occurred, This appears to justify <br />concern that such an event could happen today, The second hole was virtually <br />identical to the first except the basal shear was interpreted to be at 142 ft, <br /> <br />- 8 - <br /> <br />( <br />,. <br />