Shear wave velocity analysis of a deep seated gravel landslide structure using the microtremor survey method

Abstract

The depth and geometry of potential failure surface is the fundamental for evaluating the mechanisms of a landslide. Traditional techniques to acquire information on potential sliding surface are mainly drilling, pitting, and trenching, but these techniques are time consuming and expensive. In this study, microtremor signals and the dispersion curves of surface wave are extracted from the vertical component of microtremor records using the spatial autocorrelation (SPAC) method to estimate shear wave velocity structure. The results suggest that the buried depth of phyllite bedrock is approximately 47.4m, and the thickness of weathered bedrock layer is about 9.9m at about 57.3m deep, which could be interpreted as the potential sliding surface of this landslide, in accordance with borehole data. The microtremor survey method (MSM) is flexible, non-invasive, relatively quick and deployable on the landslide. It clearly demonstrat that it is an effective tool to improve the drilling success rate, and hence allow a large scale and high density investigation of structure characteristics of a deep seated landslide.