Dam Failure Case Study: Sheffield Dam (California, 1925)

Sheffield Dam is one of the earliest recorded case histories of earthquake-induced failure of an embankment dam. Constructed in 1917 near Santa Barbara, California, the 25-foot-high, 720-foot-long earth dam failed on the morning of June 29, 1925, after being subjected to shaking from a ML 6.3 earthquake event roughly 7 miles northwest of the dam site. The collapse of the dam caused flooding 1- to 2-feet deep in the lower parts of the city, though no fatalities were attributed to the dam failure. Later investigations into the cause(s) of the collapse identified liquefaction at the base of the dam as a key contributing factor in the failure.