60-1 Landslide Mapping and Risk Estimation in the Warner Parks, Nashville, TN

Session: 2YC and 4YCU Geoscience Student Research Poster Showcase

Poster Booth No.: 1

Presenting Author:

Jackson Whitehead

Authors:

Whitehead, Jackson Ray¹, Nandi, Arpita²

Abstract:

The Warner Parks, constituted of the two parks known as Edwin and Percy Warner Parks, are the largest municipally regulated parks in Nashville, Tennessee, spanning an area of 3,100 acres. The area is situated within the dome shaped Central Basin, bounded by the Highland Rim physiographic regions. Due to the park’s proximity to the basin wall, landslides are common along the steep slopes. These landslides vary in type, and size, and activate after heavy rainfall events. The undisturbed landscape of the Warner Parks, provides a good setting to study the nature of the slides, map their extent, and estimate their risk potential. The present study focuses on the Percy Warner Park, the bigger and less studied among the two parks. This study uses a step-by-step approach by first mapping the possible extent of the landslides using aerial photographs paired with available state LiDAR data.  The identified areas are verified in the field. By using the Unstable Slope Management Program (USMP) schema, this study estimates the landslide related risks in relation to public safety. Correlation between slope failures and slope angle, slope material (soil vs. rock), lithology of slope material, and available drainage of the area is key to understanding landslides in the park. Results suggests presence of multiple translational and rotation slides along the steep slopes and knobs of the basin and rim, capped by cherty Fort Payne and Chattanooga shale. Several landslides in the park were known to activate after an intense rainfall in May 2010, which dumped around 40 cm rain in two days. Warner Park has roughly 1 million visitors a year that walk trails and enjoy the facilities the park offers. The findings from this will help the visitors understand the complex dynamics of landslides and associated risks in these and similar landslide prone areas.   

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Program. Vol. 57, No. 6, 2025

doi: 10.1130/abs/2025AM-4844

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