Abstract
Air-fall pyroclastic deposits on steep slopes in Campania (Southern Italy) are periodically subjected to rainfall-induced landslides that may evolve into catastrophic flowslides. To protect built-up areas, early warning systems (EWSs) have been implemented which are essentially based on pluviometric thresholds or models unable to accurately monitor the physical phenomena responsible for flowslide generation in pyroclastic deposits. Over the last 20 years, landslides with no evolution in flows occurred in this area and the alarms generated by existing EWSs in the cases of rainfall were both false and highly costly, thus eroding public trust in EWSs. To improve existing EWSs, two complex models for pyroclastic soils (Cervinara and Sarno) are proposed in this paper. These two models allow correct simulation of the physical processes, such as saturation increase due to rainwater infiltration and mechanical degradation as far as undrained instability, which govern postfailure evolution. The paper concludes with the presentation of a framework proposal to be used in defining a soil database, as well as a framework for flowslide generation forecast to be used for implementation within EWSs.
Highlights
Several of the upland areas in Campania (Southern Italy) are covered by air-fall pyroclastic deposits in unsaturated conditions which are periodically subjected to rapid landslides triggered by heavy rainfalls
The crucial reliability of forecasts provided by physically based models used by early warning systems for civil protection purposes depends on the ability of early warning systems (EWSs) to reproduce the physical phenomena, taking into account the peculiarity of pyroclastic soil particles and controlling: a
All the elements defined in this paper in aa new type of current investments in areas at risk
Summary
Several of the upland areas in Campania (Southern Italy) are covered by air-fall pyroclastic deposits in unsaturated conditions which are periodically subjected to rapid landslides triggered by heavy rainfalls. Some of these landslides evolve into catastrophic flowslides, involve long distances on flat areas and cause extensive damage to downslope towns [1,2,3,4]. Not all landslides triggered by the same rainfall events in the same geomorphological contexts evolve into flowslides. B. instability phenomena (landslides); and postfailure evolution into a flow-type movement (flowslide). In two hillslope areas about 30 km from Naples, the availability of experimental observations from the laboratory and in situ investigations [6,7,8] as well as from flume infiltration tests on small-scale
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