Map data and Unmanned Aircraft System imagery from the May 25, 2014 West Salt Creek rock avalanche in western Colorado

On May 25, 2014, a rain-on-snow induced rock avalanche occurred in the West Salt Creek Valley on the northern flank of Grand Mesa in western Colorado. The avalanche mobilized from a preexisting rock slide and traveled 4.6 km down the confined valley, killing 3 people. The avalanche was rare for the contiguous U.S. because of its large size (54.5 Mm3) and long travel distance. To understand the avalanche failure sequence, mechanisms, and mobility, we mapped landslide structures, geology, and ponds at 1:1000-scale. We used high-resolution, Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) imagery from July 2014 as a base for our field mapping. Herein, we present the map data and UAS imagery. The data accompany an interpretive paper published in the journal Geosphere. The full citation for this interpretive journal paper is: Coe, J.A., Baum, R.L., Allstadt, K.E., Kochevar, B.F., Schmitt, R.G., Morgan, M.L., White, J.L., Stratton, B. Hayashi, T.A., and Kean, J.W., 2016, Rock avalanche dynamics revealed by large-scale field mapping and seismic signals at a highly mobile avalanche in the West Salt Creek Valley, western Colorado: Geosphere, v. 12, no. 2, p. 607-631, doi:10.1130/GES01265.1