The questions dealt with in the following memorandum were prepared by Dr. G.A. Leonards and transmitted via his Workshop Prospectus dated August 20, 1984. The responses offered are based in part on (1) the present writer's professional involvement in 1963--64 in the State of California's Department of Water Resources investigations of and report on the failure of Baldwin Hills Reservoir, chaired by Robert B. Jansen, and (2) the present writer's professional involvement, in 1969--70, in preparations by the City of Los Angeles' Department of Water and Power to proceed through the courts to recover costs sustained as a result of the failure. In total, prior to Dr. Leonards' 1972 ASCE Specialty Conference at Purdue, the writer had devoted over 150 man-days of studies to this interesting and professionally challenging event.
Question 1. Were fault movements initiated as a result of regional subsidence, tectonic movements, reservoir loading, infiltration, or a combination of factors? In the latter case, was any one mechanism decisive?
Response 1. The authors of several papers, reports and discussions (Hudson