Mechanics of coseismic and postseismic acceleration of active landslides

Abstract

Active slow-moving landslides exhibit very different coseismic and postseismic behaviour. Whereas some landslides do not show any postseismic acceleration, there are many that experience an increased motion in the days to weeks following an earthquake. The reason for this behaviour remains debated and the underlying mechanisms are only partially understood. In recent years, it has been suggested that postseismic acceleration is caused by excess pore water pressures generated outside of the shear zone during seismic shaking, with their subsequent diffusion into the shear zone. Here we show that this hypothesis is indeed plausible and hydro-mechanically consistent by using a basic rate-dependent physical landslide model. Our simulations provide insight into the landslide behaviour in response to seismic shaking and its main controlling parameters: preseismic landslide velocity, rate-dependency of soil strength in the shear zone, hydro-mechanical characteristics of the adjacent soil layers and the earthquake intensity.