Landslide Material Research Articles

Computational fluid dynamics modelling of landslide generated water waves

This paper describes the application of detailed computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to simulate the formation and propagation of waves generated by the impact of landslide material with water. The problem is schematised as a multiphase–multicomponent fluid flow: compressible air, water and transported alluvial material. The landslide simulation is performed by means of a hybrid approach: as a rigid solid body slipping down along an inclined slope until it starts penetrating the water body. The CFD model solves the Navier–Stokes equations with the RNG k-ɛ turbulence closure scheme and the volume of fluid multiphase method, which maintains the interface as a sharp front. The governing equations are solved using the commercial CFD code, FLUENT. The computed results are compared with experimental data reported in the literature. The model is then applied to simulate the 1958 Lituya bay Tsunami event with a 2D a simplified geometry and the results are compared to others found in literature.

Colluvial sediment dynamics in mountain drainage basins

Colluvial sediment dynamics are examined using a 70-year landslide inventory in formerly glaciated mountain drainage basins of coastal British Columbia, Canada. Landslide sediment transfer is documented by identifying landslide types, and by characterizing preferential sites of landslide initiation, delivery, and storage across spatial scales. Data analysis reveals that open-slope landslides delivering material to seasonal or perennial channels and fluvial terraces are the dominant mechanisms of sediment transfer. This finding suggests high instability of the low-order channel network and its ongoing re-organization (degradation) after generalized sediment recharge occurred in the last glacial maximum. In the study period, landslide activity across the landscape has generated net degradation on planar slopes and first-order colluvial channels, whereas unchannelled valleys, higher-order colluvial channels and alluvial channels have accumulated material. The scaling relation of the landslide sediment yield appears to be controlled by the spatial arrangement of the relict glacial macro-forms. Landslide yield is highest in unchannelled topography, decreases at the scale of channel initiation ( A d ~ 0.002 km 2), and remains constant for drainage areas where length scales of cirque/valley walls and hanging valley floors overlap (0.002 < A d < 0.06). Injections of landslide material start declining consistently beyond areas larger than 0.6 km 2 (the scale of relict glacial trough initiation), where fluvial environments become increasingly disconnected from landslide inputs. Cumulative yield indicates that colluvial sediment redistribution is limited to small basins; specifically, 90% of the colluvial load is released at scales smaller than about 0.6 km 2.

Estimating mass-wasting processes in active earth slides – earth flows with time-series of High-Resolution DEMs from photogrammetry and airborne LiDAR

Abstract. This paper deals with the use of time-series of High-Resolution Digital Elevation Models (HR DEMs) obtained from photogrammetry and airborne LiDAR coupled with aerial photos, to analyse the magnitude of recently reactivated large scale earth slides – earth flows located in the northern Apennines of Italy. The landslides underwent complete reactivation between 2001 and 2006, causing civil protection emergencies. With the final aim to support hazard assessment and the planning of mitigation measures, high-resolution DEMs are used to identify, quantify and visualize depletion and accumulation in the slope resulting from the reactivation of the mass movements. This information allows to quantify mass wasting, i.e. the amount of landslide material that is wasted during reactivation events due to stream erosion along the slope and at its bottom, resulting in sediment discharge into the local fluvial system, and to assess the total volumetric magnitude of the events. By quantifying and visualising elevation changes at the slope scale, results are also a valuable support for the comprehension of geomorphological processes acting behind the evolution of the analysed landslides.

Landslide volumes and landslide mobilization rates in Umbria, central Italy

A catalogue of 677 landslides of the slide type was selected from a global database of geometrical measurements of individual landslides, including landslide area ( A L) and volume ( V L). The measurements were used to establish an empirical relationship to link A L (in m 2) to V L (in m 3). The relationship takes the form of a power law with a scaling exponent α = 1.450, covers eight orders of magnitude of A L and twelve orders of magnitude of V L, and is in general agreement with existing relationships published in the literature. The reduced scatter of the experiential data around the dependency line, and the fact that the considered landslides occurred in multiple physiographic and climatic environments and were caused by different triggers, indicate that the relationship between V L and A L is largely independent of the physiographical setting. The new relationship was used to determine the volume of individual landslides of the slide type in the Collazzone area, central Italy, a 78.9 km 2 area for which a multi-temporal landslide inventory covering the 69-year period from 1937 to 2005 is available. In the observation period, the total volume of landslide material was V LT = 4.78 × 10 7 m 3, corresponding to an average rate of landslide mobilization φ L = 8.8 mm yr − 1 . Exploiting the temporal information in the landslide inventory, the volume of material produced during different periods by new and reactivated landslides was singled out. The wet period from 1937 to 1941 was recognized as an episode of accelerated landslide production. During this 5-year period, approximately 45% of the total landslide material inventoried in the Collazzone area was produced, corresponding to an average rate of landslide mobilization φ L = 54 mm yr − 1 , six times higher than the long term rate. The volume of landslide material in an event or period was used as a proxy for the magnitude of the event or period, defined as the logarithm (base 10) of the total landslide volume produced during the event, or period. With this respect, the new relationship to link A L and V L is a starting point for the adoption of a quantitative, process based landslide magnitude scale for landslide events.

Evolution of a debris-rock slide causing a natural dam: the flash flood of Río Santa Cruz, Province of San Juan—November 12, 2005

Between 2001 and 2005, a large debris rock slide occurred on the western slope of the Cordillera de Santa Cruz in the southeast Andean corner of the Province of San Juan (31°40′ S–70°16′ W). The landslide material accumulated in a downstream gorge as a natural dam of the Santa Cruz river, forming a large-volume lake. In November 2005, probably as a result of the increasing pressure of the water volume, this natural dam breached off with a violent and unexpected flash flood. In addition to life-threatening instances lived by some people downstream, this flood caused great economic loss to main localities of the Department of Calingasta, as well as considerable damage to one of the most relevant projects of the Province, the Caracoles Hydropower Project dam on the San Juan river. Considering the high costs of any physical remediation for a natural dam located in this high, remote, and inaccessible mountain area with no reliable road access, the main protective measures left to be pondered are the installation of a flash-flood early-warning system connected to downstream localities, along with a program of hydrological monitoring at the dam-forming area and annual satellital monitoring to verify the evolution of accumulated mass movements.

Basal‐topographic control of stationary ponds on a continuously moving landslide

AbstractThe Slumgullion landslide in the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado has been moving for at least the last few hundred years and has multiple ponds on its surface. We have studied eight ponds during 30 trips to the landslide between July 1998 and July 2007. During each trip, we have made observations on the variability in pond locations and water levels, taken ground‐based photographs to document pond water with respect to moving landslide material and vegetation, conducted Global Positioning System surveys of the elevations of water levels and mapped pond sediments on the landslide surface. Additionally, we have used stereo aerial photographs taken in October 1939, October 1940 and July 2000 to measure topographic profiles of the eight pond locations, as well as a longitudinal profile along the approximate centerline of the landslide, to examine topographic changes over a 60‐ to 61‐year period of time.Results from field observations, analyses of photographs, mapping and measurements indicate that all pond locations have remained spatially stationary for 60–300 years while landslide material moves through these locations. Water levels during the observation period were sensitive to changes in the local, spring‐fed, stream network, and to periodic filling of pond locations by sediment from floods, hyperconcentrated flows, mud flows and debris flows. For pond locations to remain stationary, the locations must mimic depressions along the basal surface of the landslide. The existence of such depressions indicates that the topography of the basal landslide surface is irregular. These results suggest that, for translational landslides that have moved distances larger than the dimensions of the largest basal topographic irregularities (about 200 m at Slumgullion), landslide surface morphology can be used as a guide to the morphology of the basal slip surface. Because basal slip surface morphology can affect landslide stability, kinematic models and stability analyses of translational landslides should attempt to incorporate irregular basal surface topography. Additional implications for moving landslides where basal topography controls surface morphology include the following: dateable sediments or organic material from basal layers of stationary ponds will yield ages that are younger than the date of landslide initiation, and it is probable that other landslide surface features such as faults, streams, springs and sinks are also controlled by basal topography.The longitudinal topographic profile indicated that the upper part of the Slumgullion landslide was depleted at a mean vertical lowering rate of 5.6 cm/yr between 1939 and 2000, while the toe advanced at an average rate of 1.5 m/yr during the same period. Therefore, during this 61‐year period, neither the depletion of material at the head of the landslide nor continued growth of the landslide toe has decreased the overall movement rate of the landslide. Continued depletion of the upper part of the landslide, and growth of the toe, should eventually result in stabilization of the landslide. Published in 2008 by John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

Tsunamigenik di Selat Sunda: Kajian terhadap katalog Tsunami Soloviev

http://dx.doi.org/10.17014/ijog.vol3no4.20086Tsunamigenic is a natural phenomena which is potential to generate a tsunami, such as water dis- turbance due to the presence of activities of volcanism, earthquakes, coastal and sub marine landslidse, or other causal factors . Historically, the Sunda Strait has experienced several tsunami events recorded in the tsunami catalog. Those tsunamies were caused by some geological phenomena such as eruptions of Krakatau submarine volcano in 416, 1883, and 1928; earthquakes in 1722, 1852, and 1958; and other causes which were suggested as a mass failure of coastal and submarine landslide in 1851, 1883, and 1889. Tectonic condition of the Sunda Strait is very complicated, because this region is located at the boundary of Indian-Australian and Eurasian Plates, where a unique island arc system occurs with its association such as trench, accretionary zone, volcanic arc and back-arc basin. Sunda trench as a plate boundary is the most potential region to produce big earthquakes. Existence of a seismic gap in the region can cause a stress accumulation and store energy, then it will be released any time as a big earthquake to generate a tsunami. Along eruption history, Krakatau volcanic arc has four stages of reconstruction and three stages of destruction, and every destruction stage produces tsunami which is suggested to be potentially repeated in the future in a period between 2500 to 2700. Seafloor of the Sunda Strait has an unstable geological condition due to geological structure development, which creates grabens and also enable to produce submarine landslides triggered by earthquake. Coastal condition around the Semangko and Lampung Bays consisting of steep topography with high intensity of weathering, is another factor to contribute landslide, particularly in the case of triggering be heavy rainfall between December to Februari. Furthermore, if landslide materials tumble into the water, even very small and locally, could create a potency of tsunami.

A preliminary method for the evaluation of the landslides volume at a regional scale

Dealing with the evaluation of the risk connected to the formation of landslide dams at regional scale, it is important to estimate the volume of the depleted material that can reach the riverbed. This information, combined with other elements (river dimensions, valley width, landslide velocity, etc.) allows making predictions on the possibility of river blockage. One of the problems of this approach is the lack of data concerning the shape and position of the sliding surface; this does not permit us to estimate the volume of the landslide material. The IFFI (Inventario dei Fenomeni Franosi in Italia, i.e. Landslide Inventory in Italy) project furnishes information, at different levels of precision, on nearly totality of the landslides existing in Italy. The first level of the IFFI (compiled for all slides) does not contain information on the depth of the sliding surface but contains data regarding the type and the activity of the slope movement. Along with this information the IFFI project also furnishes vector maps containing the boundary of each landslide and the main sliding direction. This paper describes the implementation of an algorithm aimed to define, with an adequate approximation, the 3D geometry of the sliding surface of rotational slides for which, on the basis of geologic maps available at regional scale, some geotechnical parameters can be known or estimated. The work also required the creation of a computer code useful for the 3D analysis of slope stability (3D safety factor) using the simplified Janbu method. All computer code has been created on a GNU-Linux OS and using shell scripting, based on GRASS GIS and R statistical software.

Geophysical investigation of a landslide: The Altındağ landslide site, İzmir (western Turkey)

A geophysical survey including electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) and seismic refraction tomography (SRT) was carried out to study a landslide site in the Altındağ district of İzmir city, western Turkey. In the city, landslide is one of the causes of natural hazard, and one of the most important landslide sites is located in the Altındağ district. The ERT studies were performed along four profiles over the landslide body in the directions of N–S and E–W. A Wenner–Schlumberger configuration was used during the resistivity measurements. The SRT survey was carried out using vertical geophones along a profile coincident with one of N–S trending resistivity profiles. Both the resistivity and the seismic data sets were processed by least-squares inversion techniques. In the first-arrival traveltime inversion of the surface refraction data, a method which is not based on ray tracing was used. Instead, the method used the functional description of traveltimes to generate the Jacobian and this matrix was calculated by using a finite-difference approximation based on the perturbation of the cell slownesses. Traveltime calculations were performed by an eikonal solver. Each technique produced useful results on the internal structure of the landslide, physical properties of the landslide material and sliding surface geometry. The landslide material was characterized by low resistivity and low seismic velocity. The resistivity results also indicated the zones associated with the high water and clay contents within the landslide mass. A layer of consolidated clastic rocks was considered to be the landslide bedrock, and it was represented by relatively high (moderate) resistivity and high velocity. Integrated interpretation of the resistivity and the seismic refraction data along one of N–S trending profiles helped us identify the geometry of the failure surface and the changes in the thickness of the landslide material. An undulating sliding surface is present along that profile and the landslide material gets thicker in the middle and the northern parts (the toe area) of the profile. Moreover, the water content is thought to have a key role in the mass movement in the landslide site.

Geotechnical assessment of a landslide along a natural gas pipeline for possible remediations (Karacabey-Turkey)

A new natural gas pipeline with a 0.90-m diameter is under construction to provide a gas connection between Turkey and Greece as well as to create a gas ring for southern Europe. The new pipeline route lies next to an existing small diameter gas pipeline broken by a landslide that occurred in February 2006 near Karacabey (Bursa). Although the existing pipeline has been temporarily repaired, either the pipeline route should be relocated or the landslide should be stabilized. The geological survey conducted in the study area reveals that relocation is not feasible due to the existence of other landslides in close vicinity to the site. In order to investigate the causes of the landslide and to suggest possible remedial measures, geotechnical investigations including surface geological mapping, trial pitting, drilling with field tests, inclinometer measurements, laboratory testing, and limit equilibrium analyses were conducted. The investigation revealed that the unconsolidated clayey soil slid on claystone along a non-circular failure surface. Based on the gathered data, possible remedial measures including partial removal of landslide material and construction of toe buttresses, slope flattening, lowering the pipeline, and surface drainage systems were evaluated. These are suggested to prevent the reactivation of the landslide, and thus to establish a safe route for both the existing and the new pipelines.

Rock avalanches that travel onto glaciers and related developments, Karakoram Himalaya, Inner Asia

Catastrophic rock slope failures in rugged terrain commonly generate rock avalanches. When these occur in glacier basins the extent of landslide run out and its emplacement geometry are affected by movement over ice. Substantial modifications of glacier activity and sedimentation can follow. Ice activity leads to rapid modification, transport and dispersal of landslide debris. The nature of these interactions is described from observations over 20 years at Bualtar Glacier in the Karakoram. In August 1986 rock avalanches descended onto the ablation zone of the glacier. Their moisture content and patterns of deposition were affected by travel over ice. Glacier movement increased sharply at and below the rock avalanche deposits and, within a few months, the glacier surged. A second surge occurred 2 years later. Major slope failures and debris flows were triggered beyond the ice margins, and ponded melt water led to small outburst floods. By 2005 the landslide material had been transported some 9 km, about one third of this distance in the surges. Eventually it was fully reworked to become less readily distinguishable from other heavy supraglacial debris. A large area of thickened ice persisted where the debris reduced ablation; a positive impact on mass balance equivalent to a 20% increase in annual accumulation. However, it occurred as a moving segment of the ablation zone. In 10 years it had, in effect, replaced the mass transferred in the surges. Data for the mid-1980s indicate the rock avalanches exceeded pre-existing supraglacial debris by roughly five times and, over a 30 year period, will equal almost 500 years of normal supraglacial transport to the glacier margins. Other impacts of the episode suggest a doubling of this contribution to denudation. Similar developments were observed at three other glaciers where recent rock avalanches occurred and at twenty-one prehistoric rock avalanches newly identified as having spread over glaciers. It seems inadequate to treat such events only as singular extremes, or the landslide and glacial processes separately. Here they are interpreted as contributing to ‘disturbance regime’ landscapes, whose history reflects episodic and regionally specific responses to strong interference among different earth surface processes. They generate polygenetic deposits and landforms that are morphologically complex. Individual episodes involve decades to millennia; their numbers and repetition can over-ride or redirect geotectonic and climatic conditions. It is suggested they are major, but hitherto misread or neglected, elements of landform evolution in the Karakoram and, perhaps, in other high mountains.

Tsunamigenik di Selat Sunda: Kajian terhadap katalog Tsunami Soloviev

http://dx.doi.org/10.17014/ijog.vol3no4.20086Tsunamigenic is a natural phenomena which is potential to generate a tsunami, such as water dis- turbance due to the presence of activities of volcanism, earthquakes, coastal and sub marine landslidse, or other causal factors . Historically, the Sunda Strait has experienced several tsunami events recorded in the tsunami catalog. Those tsunamies were caused by some geological phenomena such as eruptions of Krakatau submarine volcano in 416, 1883, and 1928; earthquakes in 1722, 1852, and 1958; and other causes which were suggested as a mass failure of coastal and submarine landslide in 1851, 1883, and 1889. Tectonic condition of the Sunda Strait is very complicated, because this region is located at the boundary of Indian-Australian and Eurasian Plates, where a unique island arc system occurs with its association such as trench, accretionary zone, volcanic arc and back-arc basin. Sunda trench as a plate boundary is the most potential region to produce big earthquakes. Existence of a seismic gap in the region can cause a stress accumulation and store energy, then it will be released any time as a big earthquake to generate a tsunami. Along eruption history, Krakatau volcanic arc has four stages of reconstruction and three stages of destruction, and every destruction stage produces tsunami which is suggested to be potentially repeated in the future in a period between 2500 to 2700. Seafloor of the Sunda Strait has an unstable geological condition due to geological structure development, which creates grabens and also enable to produce submarine landslides triggered by earthquake. Coastal condition around the Semangko and Lampung Bays consisting of steep topography with high intensity of weathering, is another factor to contribute landslide, particularly in the case of triggering be heavy rainfall between December to Februari. Furthermore, if landslide materials tumble into the water, even very small and locally, could create a potency of tsunami.

Distribution of landslides in the Upper Tiber River basin, central Italy

A comprehensive analysis of the distribution of landslides was completed in the Upper Tiber River basin, central Italy. Landslide occurrence was ascertained through a large-scale inventory obtained through air-photo-interpretation (API) and local field surveys. Lithological and bedding information was obtained through photo-geological and field mapping, aided by the review of geological maps and reports. The probability density of landslide areas was found comparable to statistics obtained by investigators in other areas of the world. Adoption of empirical relationships to link landslide area and volume allowed estimating the total volume of landslide material in the 4098 km 2 catchment in excess of 5.9 × 10 9 m 3. Statistics of terrain elevation and slope in stable areas were found different from those in landslide areas. In particular, modal terrain slope in landslide areas was less steep (11.9°) than that in areas where landslides were not mapped (13.3°). Analysis of the landslide and slope areas revealed that a relationship exists between the size of the slope and the size of the most common landslide. Analysis of the spatial relationship between landslides and the geological setting revealed that slope failures are most abundant where soft and weak rocks crop out, and where bedding is chaotic or disorganized. Where rocks are regularly bedded, landslide abundance is largest in dip-slopes. These new findings are important to understand the long-term evolution of the Upper Tiber River basin, and may prove useful in the assessment of landslide hazard and risk.

Evolution of a landslide creating a temporary lake: successful prediction

The Anzola landslide is a complex landslide that failed on the left side of the Ceno Valley (Northern Apennines, Italy). It was studied using a multidisciplinary approach, in which geomorphology, geology and engineering geology were combined to understand the kinematics, evolution, the main rock mass characteristics, the behavior of the landslide, and its morphologic evolution. The Anzola landslide in 1996 was probably a neo-activation. It was affected by at least three re-activations recently, always in connection with heavy rainfall, which twice caused the blockage of the valley and formed a small lake. The possibility of river blockage as a consequence of the re-activation of the landslide was investigated using a GRASS GIS-based shell script that simulates the landslide material descent and computes the dam and lake sizes. The simulations allowed assessment of the amount of the depleted material coupled with the morphological situation, characterized by a very narrow riverbed that can lead easily to the formation of consistent damming and lakes. This situation, of course, can represent a serious risk in case of a dam break, and the ensuing flooding could affect downstream infrastructures and small villages.

Subsurface investigations of landslides using geophysical methods : geoelectrical applications in the Swabian Alb (Germany)

Abstract. Landslides occur frequently all over the world, causing at times considerable economic damage, injuries and even death. In order to improve hazard assessment, common landslide types of a given region need to be investigated in detail. While traditional techniques of subsurface investigation are expensive and only provide point information, geophysical methods are suitable tools for gathering 2D and 3D information on the subsurface quickly, reliably and cost-effectively. In this study, the suitability and limitations of 2D resistivity for the determination of landslide extent, structure and soil moisture conditions are presented. For this purpose, two identical profiles were taken during a two-month period. Significant differences in electrical resistivity (&gt;1000 Ωm) due to varying soil moisture conditions were observed. Using various inversion parameters, it was possible to model two distinct subsurface images. Regrettably, the sliding plane could not be detected reliably, possibly due to the homogeniety of the landslide material and underlying bedrock.

Devastating landslides related to the 2002 Papandayan eruption

http://dx.doi.org/10.17014/ijog.vol1no2.20063Papandayan is an A-type active strato volcano located at some 20 km SW of Garut or about 70 km SE of Bandung the capital city of West Java Province. Geographically, the summit of this volcano lies at the intersection between 07º 19’ 42” S and 107º 44” E. The 2002 Papandayan eruption was preceded by two felt earthquakes, 8 times of A-type volcanic earthquakes and 150 times of B- type volcanic earthquake. These events were followed by a phreatic eruption that took place on 11 November at 16.02 local time. Field observation shows that the summit region, mainly around the craters consists of rocks that have hydrothermally altered to yield clay rich material. This clay rich material covers most of the crater fl oors and the crater rim. Mount Nangklak that forms part of the rim also contains a lava plug from the Old Papandayan volcano. This mountain is covered by fi ne grained, unconsolidated material, and altered rocks. Much of this altered rocks coincides with solfataric and fumarolic activities of 80 to &gt; 300°C. The summit area also contains high discharge of water either originating from the springs or surface water. The increase in seismicity, the fi ne-grained hydrothermal altered rocks, and the existence of some faults that pass through the summit region might have weaken the stability of the summit area. As the result, a landslide occurred on the north fl ank of Mount Nangklak where the landslide material blocked the upper course of Cibeureum Gede River. This landslide material had formed big mudfl ows that caused several houses of fi ve villages were partly burried, some bridges were devastated and several hectares of cultivated land were damaged.

Micromorphology of landslide soil

Landslide is one of natural catastrophes affecting national economy and people’s livelihood. There are many reports on the forming mechanism and control of landslide, but the studies on micromorphology of landslide soil are few. There are many potential landslides in the Three Gorges Region in China. In this paper, the micromorphologic features of the Jibazi landslide soil in Yunyang in the Three Gorges Region of the Yangtze River were studied using routine methods, that is, soil micromorphology, X-ray diffractometer and scanning electron microscope. The main conclusions are as follow: (1) The basic micromorphologic characteristics of the landslide soil are that the fine soil particles are commonly cohesive matrix, finer and lower content of skeleton grains, the microstructures are mainly types of phenocrystal gelatinization, densely chap and fissure structure. As a result, these micromorphologic features affect the discharging of soil water, favor the movement of landslide body and provide an internal basis of materials for the formation of landslide. (2) The concept on the forming material of landslide was proposed, and types of optical beamed clay aggregates, Fe-Mn isolates and glassy material were found in landslide-belt soil, which were remarkably different from the natural soil formation, and had some scientific significance in analyzing the forming mechanism of landslide and distinguishing the landslide-belt soil. (3) Some special micromorphologic and sub-micromorphologic characteristics, such as fingerprint microstructure, clay beamed bedding microstructure, oppressive microstructure, moulage microstructure and extending hole microstructure, could bring useful micromorphologic evidences for the observation and forecasting of landslide. The results mentioned above will bring helpful micromorphologic evidences for distinguishing slide soil, analyzing the formation mechanism of landslide, and monitoring and forecasting the occurrence of landslide.

Some considerations about the simulation of breach channel erosion on landslide dams

The analysis of the flood hazard related to the areas downstream of landslide dams is one of the most interesting aspects of studying the formation and the failure of natural dams. The BREACH code [14], simulating the collapse of earthen dams, both man-made and naturally formed by a landslide, was chosen in order to analyse the case of the Valderchia landslide (central Italy). The bed-load transport formula used in BREACH (Meyer-Peter and Muller, modified by Smart [27]) is based on flume experiments with well-sorted sediments. Such a methodology probably makes this equation not very suitable for describing the sediment transport peculiar to a landslide body presenting a very poor material sorting. The Schoklitsch [26] formula was implemented into the programme as an alternative to the Smart equation. However, because the landslide deposits may often have a strongly bimodal grain–size frequency curve, the percentile D 50 (the typical granulometric parameter requested by bed-load sediment transport formulas) can sometimes correspond to one of the grain-size classes which are really present to a lesser degree. To consider this phenomenon, the BREACH programme (version 7/88-1) was implemented with a new procedure that calculates two granulometric curves, one for each mode of the original distribution, and evaluates transport of the landslide material separately. Results of the analysis show that the model is very sensitive to the bed-load equation and that the procedure implemented to consider the eventual bimodal distribution of the dam material simulates the armouring phenomenon (which can stop the erosion of the dam during the overtopping phase).

Coastal landslide material loss rates associated with severe climatic events

Deep-seated landslides along the California coast deliver large amounts of material to the nearshore littoral environment. Landslide movement, a combined result of slope base undercutting by waves and ground saturation, is highly episodic. Movement occurs primarily during periods of high rainfall and large waves, such as those associated with El Nino events. This analysis applies remote-sensing techniques to quantify the volumetric net loss rates at three specific landslide sites along the Big Sur coast over three approximately decadal time periods, two of which contained the largest El Nino events of the twentieth century. High-resolution historical terrain models were compared in order to provide surface- elevation change data for each landslide complex. To determine the material influx to the littoral system, the landslide complexes were divided into upper and lower slopes, and the surface-elevation change was converted to a volume loss. Some material lost from the upper slope was deposited at the slope base, not into the littoral system. We describe a method to calculate the net loss that omits the deposition volumes from the upper slope. Loss rates were found to be substantially higher during the periods in which El Nino events occurred. This is especially true during the period of the 1997–1998 El Nino, when 75% of the total material volume was lost, and loss rates were as much as sixteen times higher than during non–El Nino periods.

Comparison of Residual Shear Strengths from Back Analysis and Ring Shear Tests on Undisturbed and Remolded Specimens

Slope stabilization procedures for six landslides in the Niigata prefecture in Japan afforded an excellent opportunity to examine the residual drained shear strength of weathered mudstones. Installation of 3 m diameter drainage galleries allowed undisturbed block samples to be collected which contained the slickenside surface of the failure plane. Ring shear tests were conducted on undisturbed samples and remolded samples of the same material. In addition to the laboratory testing, back analysis was performed to calculate the residual shear strength parameters of the slopes. Good agreement was found between the residual friction angles determined from back analysis, tests on undisturbed samples, and tests on remolded specimens. Many of the landslide materials exhibited a small cohesion at low values of effective normal stress, but the secant friction angle achieved a constant value at higher normal stresses.