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Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology
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Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology; 2002; v. 35; issue.1; p. 5-7
© 2002 Geological Society of London

Photo Feature

Landsliding in an urban area

Phil Flentje & Robin Chowdhury

1 Research Fellow and Professor, Faculty of Engineering, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia

Received for publication 5 April 2001. Accepted for publication 5 July 2001.

The first 250 words of the full text of this article appear below. Images appear only in PDF or full-text views.


   Introduction and Setting
 
The city of Wollongong is nestled within a narrow coastal plain approximately 70 km south of Sydney in the state of New South Wales (NSW), Australia (Fig. 1 ). Over the last 150 years of settlement the population of the Wollongong area, extending from Helensburgh in the north to Windang in the south has increased to about 200 000 people. The coastal plain is triangular in shape with a coastal length of 25 km. It is widest in the south at Yallah (14 km) and narrows sharply towards the north, disappearing north of Thirroul. The coastal plain is bounded to the north, west and south by an erosional escarpment ranging in height from 300 m up to 500 m.


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  		Fig. 1 Location plan.

 
The escarpment consists of slopes with moderate to steep inclinations with several intermediate benches and cliff lines. Spectacular cliffs of Hawkesbury Sandstone (Middle Triassic) cap the escarpment and there is dense vegetation over most of the escarpment below these cliffs (Fig. 2 ).


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  		Fig. 2 Escarpment with large rock fall debris flow near Dombarton railway siding, 1974. Photo by Young.

 
The main road link to Sydney is the F6 freeway that traverses the escarpment via Mount Ousley Road. There are several other road links from the coastal plain to the top of the escarpment and there is a coast road to the north (Figs 3 & 4 ).


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  		Fig. 3 View south from northern suburbs. Lawrence Hargrave Drive in foreground near base of cliff.

 
Processes and mechanisms of slope failure . . . [Full Text of this Article]