Abstract
The mountainous region of Greater Sochi, including the Olympic ski-jump complex area, located in the northern Caucasus, is always subjected to landslides. The weathered mudstone of low strength and potential high-intensity earthquakes are considered as the crucial factors causing slope instability in the ski-jump complex area. This study aims to conduct a seismic slope instability map of the area. A slope map was derived from a digital elevation model (DEM) and calculated using ArcGIS. The numerical modelling of slope stability with various slope angles was conducted using Geostudio. The Spencer method was applied to calculate the slope safety factors (Fs). The pseudostatic analysis was used to compute Fs considering seismic effect. A good correlation between Fs and slope angle was found. Combining these data, sets slope instability maps were achieved. Newmark displacement maps were also drawn according to empirical regression equations. The result shows that the static safety factor map corresponds to the existing slope instability locations in a shallow landslide inventory map. The seismic safety factor maps and Newmark displacement maps may be applied to predict potential landslides of the study area in the case of earthquake occurrence.
Highlights
The Caucasus region is among the landslide research hotspots with medium to high landslide susceptibility classification [1]
Physically-based models based on the limit equilibrium method are often used for small area landslide susceptibility, such as the 3D model and infinite slope stability model [7,13]
In a previous study by other scholars, concerning the slope stability analysis in geographic information system (GIS), the safety factor (Fs) values were usually achieved based on empirical equations [16,17,18]
Summary
The Caucasus region is among the landslide research hotspots with medium to high landslide susceptibility classification [1]. The mountainous area of Greater Sochi, where the Olympic ski-jump facilities have been built, is located in the northern Caucasus. The Olympic Winter Games were over, the construction of the ski-jump area related to tourism is still being carried out. The weathered surface of the Jurassic mudstone, almost underlying the whole area, is widely distributed [2,3]. The low strength weathered mudstone can cause shallow landslides. Another important natural factor contributing to the formation of landslides is the high seismic activity of the region [6]. The analysis of the slope stability of the study area in either static or seismic states is of significance
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