This list of landslides is a list of notable landslides and mudflows divided into sections by date and type. This list may be incomplete as there is no central catalogue for landslides, although it does exist for some for individual countries or areas. Volumes of landslides are recorded in the scientific literature using cubic kilometres (km3) for the largest and millions of cubic metres (MCM) for most events.
Prehistoric landslides Note: km3 = cubic kilometre(s) Date Place Name Position Volume Comments Sources 48 MaHeart Mountain, Wyoming, US Everest glacier slide ~2000 km3Mostly eroded now 21–22 Ma Southwest Utah, US Markagunt gravity slide ~1700–2000 km3~6.1 MaEast Traverse Mountains, Utah, USEast Traverse Mountains mega landslide~50–100 km3The landslide comprises the entirety of East Traverse Mountainca. 71,000 BCEFogo, Cape Verde Islands130–160 km3The eastern flank of the island of Fogo collapsed into the sea, generating a megatsunami. The wave struck Santiago, away, with a height of at least . Sometime between 19,000 and 10,000 BCE Lake Tahoe, California and Nevada, United States 12.5 km3 The landslide occurred along the western shore of the lake, forming McKinney Bay and generating megatsunamis in the lake of about in height.Alden, Andrew, "The 'Tahoe Tsunami': New Study Envisions Early Geologic Event," kqed.org, July 31, 2014, Retrieved 23 June 2020 ca. 15,000 BCE San Bernardino Mountains, California, United States Blackhawk slide0.52 km3 A cube of rock on a side slid down the slope of a steep canyon, then exited the canyon and traveled for across a flat valley at a speed of up to .Kieffer, Susan W., "The Deadly Dynamics of Landslides," American Scientist, July–August 2014 Retrieved 28 June 2020 13,500 BCE Green Lake (Southland) New Zealand Green Lake landslide 27 km3 Likely triggered by large earthquake on or near the Alpine Fault Late Pleistocene British Columbia Cheekye Fan~0.15 km3 Collapse of the western flank of Mount Garibaldi≈ 10,000 BCE Seymareh, Iran Seymareh landslide20 km3Collapse of the north-eastern flank of Kabir Kouh ridge across the Seymareh River~9900 BCEOtago, New ZealandLochnagar Landslide1 km3Collapse of mountain forming Lake Lochnagar. Between ~8020 and ~6520 BCE Sullorsuaq Strait, Greenland Various Seven very large tsunamigenic landslides struck Sullorsuaq Strait over this 1,500-year period, some from the southern coast of the Nuussuaq Peninsula and others from the northern coast of Disko Island. No evidence has been found of the tsunamis or megatsunamis they probably generated. ~6370 BCE Mount Etna, Sicily25 km3 An , area of the eastern slope of Mount Etna collapsed into the Mediterranean Sea, triggering a megatsunami in the Eastern Mediterranean with an initial wave height along the coast of Sicily of . It struck the Neolithic village of Atlit Yam off what is now the coast of Israel, where it had a height of and prompted the village's abandonment. ~5650 BCE Sullorsuaq Strait, Greenland A large landslide entered Sullorsuaq Strait, generating a megatsunami which struck Alluttoq Island, where it had a run-up height of . ~5350 BCE Sullorsuaq Strait, Greenland A large landslide entered Sullorsuaq Strait, generating a megatsunami which struck Alluttoq Island, where it had a run-up height of . ~2800 BCE Zion Canyon, Utah, US 0.286 km3 Landslide created the currently level floor of Zion Canyon inside Zion National Park. ~1920 BCE Jishi Gorge, Qinghai Province, China Jishi Gorge outburst flood0.040–0.080 km3 Landslide dammed the Yellow River, breach of dam may have caused the Great Flood of Gun-Yu ~1100 BCE Mount Storm King, Washington, United States 0.0072 km3 An earthquake generated the Sledgehammer Point Rockslide, which entered waters at least deep in Lake Crescent and generated a megatsunami with an estimated maximum run-up height of . ~200 BCE North Island, New Zealand2.2 km3 Dammed Lake Waikaremoana
Submarine landslides Note: MCM = million cubic metres; km3 = cubic kilometre(s) Date Place Name/article Position Volume Comments Sources 1.4 Ma off northern Molokai, Hawaii Wailau Slide 2,500 km3 The northern third of East Molokai Volcano collapsed suddenly into the Pacific Ocean in a wide landslide with a run-out that climbed uphill from the Hawaiian Trough over the last . It generated a tsunami that was tall locally and which reached California and Mexico. Between 1.5 and 0.5 Ma off northeastern Oahu, Hawaii Nu'uanu Slide 7,500 km3 The eastern half of the Koolau Volcano collapsed into the Pacific Ocean, leaving behind its remnant western rim on Oahu as the Koolau Range The landslide had a run-out of more than , climbing about over the last and leaving a massive debris field north of Oahu and Molokai covering . The largest piece of debris, the Tuscaloosa Seamount, measures and rises above the seafloor.Stinton, John, "Nuuanu landslide tore Oahu apart," Honolulu Star-Bulletin, May 5, 1999 Retrieved 29 June 2020 Less than 2.6 Ma off South Africa Agulhas Slide 20,000 km3 The largest so far described ca. 42,000 BP off North Island, New Zealand Ruatoria debris avalanche 3,000 km3 ca. 8,000 BP Norwegian Sea Storegga Slide 3,500 km3 Triggered a large tsunami that swept over the Shetland and Orkney Islands 18 Nov 1929 Grand Banks of Newfoundland 1929 Grand Banks earthquake 200 km3 Broke 12 submarine communications cables. The tsunami was tall, had a run-up of , and killed 28 people on the Burin Peninsula. 17 Jul 1998 North of New Guinea 1998 Papua New Guinea earthquake 4 km3 The landslide in the Pacific Ocean followed an M 7.0 earthquake by a few minutes and generated tsunamis with heights of that struck the north coast of Papua New Guinea, killing 2,100 to 2,700 people, injuring 1,000, and leaving 10,000 homeless.
Pre-20th-century historic landslides Note: km3 = cubic kilometre(s); MCM = million cubic metres Date Place Name/article Position Volume Casualties Comments Sources 563 Lake Geneva, Switzerland and France Tauredunum event Hundreds to thousands A landslide apparently triggered a collapse of sediments at the mouth of the River Rhône, resulting in a submarine mudslide that triggered a tsunami which traveled the length of Lake Geneva, reaching a height of in some places. The wave destroyed villages and reached Geneva.1190Annapurna IV, Nepal23.5 km3The debris formed the vast terrace where Pokhara was built later. 25 Nov 1248 Mont Granier, France 1000+ Destroyed five villages.25 Jan 1348Dobratsch, AustriaDobratsch Landslide900 MCMTriggered by the Friuli earthquake (8–9 EMS), due to the flood of the river Gail, 2 villages had to be abandoned. 1425–1450North Bonneville, Washington, USBridge of the Gods (land bridge) 14 km3 Possibly linked to the 1458 Cascadia Earthquake About 1560 Ozette, Washington, US Ozette Indian Village Archeological Site Partially buried the village at Ozette 1692Judgment Hill, Jamaica 1692 Jamaica earthquake 131–181 MCM19 white people killed; other possible deaths not recorded The landslide displaced the land surface by up to . The debris travelled vertically and horizontally and accumulated over a area. Documentationm of the timing of the landslide is inexact, but it occurred after the 7 June 1692 earthquake at Port Royal and may have occurred due to heavy rainfall which followed the earthquake, and possibly due to rain associated with a hurricane that struck the area in October 1692. 19 June 1718Gansu, China 1718 Tongwei–Gansu earthquake An 7.5 earthquake triggers over 300 landslides, burying villages and resulting in 73,000 deaths. 22 Feb 1756Langfjorden, Norway 12 to 15 MCM32Slid down the slope of the mountain Tjellafjellet into the Langfjorden, generating three megatsunamis in the Langfjorden and the Eresfjorden with heights of . The largest landslide in Norway in historic time. 10 Jun 1786Kangding-Luding area, Sichuan, southwestern China 1786 Kangding-Luding earthquake A M 7.75 earthquake on 1 June triggered a large landslide that created a high landslide dam in the Dadu River. The dam failed catastrophically on 10 June, the resulting flood extending downstream and killing 100,000 people.Schuster, R.L. and G. F. Wieczorek, "Landslide triggers and types" in Landslides: Proceedings of the First European Conference on Landslides, 2002, A. A. Balkema Publishers, p. 66 2 Sep 1806 Canton of Schwyz, Switzerland Goldau Rockslide 40 MCM457 Destroyed four villages and caused a tsunami in Lake LauerzThe 1806 Goldau landslide Bull Angew Geol 2006; 11(2):3–12. English abstract Archived 24 Dec 1839 Lyme Regis, Dorset Axmouth to Lyme Regis Undercliff One of a series of slumps 1855–1856 British Columbia Collapse of The Barrier30 MCM1881Qiaojia County, Yunnan, ChinaShigaodi Landslide530 MCMFormed dam on Jinsha River 11 Sep 1881 Elm, Switzerland 7.6 MCM114–115 A mountainside weakened by quarrying and two months of heavy rains slid into the village, where it buried 83 structures, then across the valley the village stood in and up the opposite slope. 13 Mar 1888 Ritter Island, Netherlands East Indies1888 Ritter Island eruption and tsunami 4 to 5 km3 ca. 3,000 During a volcanic eruption, a significant portion of the island slid into the sea, generating tsunamis of up to in height that struck nearby islands and traveled as far south as New Guinea, where they were high.Aaron Micallef, Sebastian F. L. Watt, Christian Berndt, Morelia Urlaub, Sascha Brune, Ingo Klaucke, Christoph Böttner, Jens Karstens, and Judith Elger, "An 1888 Volcanic Collapse Becomes a Benchmark for Tsunami Models," eos.org, October 17, 2017 Retrieved 29 June 2020Ritter Island at Volcano World 19 Sep 1889 Cap Diamant, Quebec Québec rockslide >40
20th-century landslides 1901–1950 Note: km3 = cubic kilometre(s); MCM = million cubic metres