Landslide Investigation Using Seismic Refraction Tomography Method: A Review

Since the early 1960s, near-surface seismic refraction tomography (SRT) has been extensively used as a non-invasive and cost-effective geophysical method to characterize complex geological structures for landslide investigation. This geophysical technique is able to characterize the slope material, the sliding surface's geometry, the landslide mass movement, the physical properties of media, and the water saturation effects on the slope. Therefore, this method has become an appropriate method due to the increasing progress of novel algorithms and the improvements of field-data collection systems. In this paper, we attempt to review the essential research that investigated various types of landslides influenced by water saturation and landslide materials and identified in various areas, since the year 2000. Significant conclusions obtained by applying different survey strategies and data processing algorithms in seismic refraction surveys are widely discussed concentrating on the advantages and disadvantages of this method. The main results obtained by the few available studies applying time-lapse SRT (TLSRT) are particularly analyzed.

Investigation on the Failure Mechanism of Rainfall-Induced Long-Runout Landslide at Upputhode, Kerala State of India

The main objective of the study is to estimate the shear resistance mobilized on the slope surface under large deformation and to identify the failure mechanism of the landslide through the simulation model. The field investigations were carried out using Geophysical tests, and the laboratory tests were conducted to identify the engineering properties of the soil with weathering characteristics of the parent rock. The residual shear strength parameters from Torsional ring shear tests were used in LS-RAPID numerical simulation software to study the mechanism of the landslide. The critical pore water pressure ratio (ru = 0.32) required for the initiation of a landslide was obtained. The increase in pore water pressure reduces the soil matric suction and thereby results in the reduction of the shear strength of the soil. The progressive failure mechanism and the three landslide processes (initiation, run out and deposition) are investigated. The velocity of the moving landslide mass in the role of demolishing the building is studied and helps in finding suitable remedial measures for the nearby building. The empirical rainfall threshold based on the antecedent rainfall was developed and revealed that either a high daily rainfall intensity of 142 mm without any antecedent rainfall, or an antecedent rainfall of 151 mm for a cumulative period of 5 days with even continuous normal rainfall can initiate landslide.

The importance of input data on landslide susceptibility mapping

Landslide detection and susceptibility mapping are crucial in risk management and urban planning. Constant advance in digital elevation models accuracy and availability, the prospect of automatic landslide detection, together with variable processing techniques, stress the need to assess the effect of differences in input data on the landslide susceptibility maps accuracy. The main goal of this study is to evaluate the influence of variations in input data on landslide susceptibility mapping using a logistic regression approach. We produced 32 models that differ in (1) type of landslide inventory (manual or automatic), (2) spatial resolution of the topographic input data, (3) number of landslide-causing factors, and (4) sampling technique. We showed that models based on automatic landslide inventory present comparable overall prediction accuracy as those produced using manually detected features. We also demonstrated that finer resolution of topographic data leads to more accurate and precise susceptibility models. The impact of the number of landslide-causing factors used for calculations appears to be important for lower resolution data. On the other hand, even the lower number of causative agents results in highly accurate susceptibility maps for the high-resolution topographic data. Our results also suggest that sampling from landslide masses is generally more befitting than sampling from the landslide mass center. We conclude that most of the produced landslide susceptibility models, even though variable, present reasonable overall prediction accuracy, suggesting that the most congruous input data and techniques need to be chosen depending on the data quality and purpose of the study.

Stability Analysis of the Shiliushubao Landslide Based on Deformation Characteristics and External Trigger Factors in the Three Gorges Reservoir

There exists the problem of landslide reactivation due to the seasonal fluctuation of rainfall and reservoir water level annually. Based on a large number of GPS monitoring data of the landslide mass after impoundment of the Three Gorges Reservoir in Shiliushubao landslide area, the relationship between the external trigger factors and slope stability could be obtained. A finite element calculation model has been established for the stability analysis of the Shiliushubao landslide after impoundment from January 2004 to October 2009. Through the deformation characteristics of the landslide, it is shown that the landslide exhibited a stepwise pattern on the whole, which developed faster after impoundment and slowed down in rainy seasons. The trend of the curve kept roughly opposite to the fluctuation of the safety factor. It suggested that the stability of the landslide mass was closely related to the seasonal fluctuation of the rainfall and the reservoir level, and the landslide deposits demonstrated to be reactive with them. The subject provides a certain reference value on the landslide stability analysis and the risk assessment within a similar engineering geological condition.

Landslides in the Solar System

This is an advance summary of a forthcoming article in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Planetary Science. Please check back later for the full article. Landslides are gravity-driven mass movements of rock, earth, or debris. All of these surface processes occur under the influence of gravity, meaning that they globally move material from higher to lower places. Outside Earth, these structures were first observed in a lunar crater during the Apollo program, but mass movements have been spotted on several rocky worlds (solid bodies) in the solar system, including icy satellites, asteroids, and comets. On Earth, landslides have the effect of shaping the landscape more or less rapidly, leaving a signature that is recognised through field surveys and visual analysis, or automatic identification, on aerial photographs or satellite images. Landslides observed on Earth and in solid bodies of the solar system are of different types on the basis of their movement and the material involved in the failure. Material is either rock or soil (or both) with a variable fraction of water or ice; a soil mainly composed of sand-sized or finer particles is referred to as earth, while it is called debris if composed of coarse fragments. The landslide mass may be displaced in several types of movement, classified generically as falling, toppling, sliding, spreading, or flowing. Such diverse characteristics mean that the size of a landslide (e.g., area, volume, fall height, length) can vary widely. For example, on Earth, their areas range up to eleven orders of magnitude, while their volumes vary by eighteen orders, from small rock fragments to huge submarine landslides. The classification of extraterrestrial landslides is based on terrestrial analogs, which have similarities and characteristics that resemble those found on the planetary body. This morphological classification is made regardless of the geomorphological environment or processes that may have triggered the slope failure. Comparing landslide characteristics on various planetary bodies helps to understand the effect of surface gravity on landslide initiation and propagation, which can be of tremendous importance when designing manned and unmanned missions with landings on extraterrestrial bodies. Regardless of the practical applications of such study, knowing the morphology and surface dynamics that shape solid bodies in the space surrounding the Earth is something that has fascinated the human imagination since the time of Galileo.

Obtaining a Real Natural Numerical Landslide Model by Comparing Measurement and Predicted Values: A Case Study of Kavşakbendi̇ Dam Left Bank Andirap Landslide

The Andırap landslide is located on the left bank of the Kavşakbendi dam approximately 50 km from the Kozan district of Adana province in Turkey. After it was determined that the mass stability was impaired during the dam construction work, the landslide movements were followed by surface geodetic measurements and inclinometers. According to the measurements that were taken, displacements totaling 0.10 m were measured between 2010 and 2017, and it was determined that the speed of movement slowed considerably between 2017 and 2020. In this study, the results of stress-strain and stability analyses were evaluated taking into account the soil model created based on extensive site and laboratory research to examine the sliding mechanism of the Andırap landslide mass. After the numerical model was verified using site measurements, the movements of the landslide mass were examined by numerical analyses, taking into account the different loading conditions that may be encountered during the service life of the dam. According to the results of the analysis, no global slide was observed for the slip circle of the Andırap landslide and in the analyses conducted for the situation where the reservoir is full, the deep displacement of 0.11 m was consistent with the average displacement of 0.04 and 0.11 m deformation values measured from inclinometers. In the analyses carried out for the loading condition featuring a full reservoir and earthquake effects, it was calculated that shallow displacements reached up to 1.0 m, but deep displacements were 0.13 m.

When hazard avoidance is not an option: lessons learned from monitoring the postdisaster Oso landslide, USA

On 22 March 2014, a massive, catastrophic landslide occurred near Oso, Washington, USA, sweeping more than 1 km across the adjacent valley flats and killing 43 people. For the following 5 weeks, hundreds of workers engaged in an exhaustive search, rescue, and recovery effort directly in the landslide runout path. These workers could not avoid the risks posed by additional large-scale slope collapses. In an effort to ensure worker safety, multiple agencies cooperated to swiftly deploy a monitoring and alerting system consisting of sensors, automated data processing and web-based display, along with defined communication protocols and clear calls to action for emergency management and search personnel. Guided by the principle that an accelerating landslide poses a greater threat than a steadily moving or stationary mass, the system was designed to detect ground motion and vibration using complementary monitoring techniques. Near real-time information was provided by continuous GPS, seismometers/geophones, and extensometers. This information was augmented by repeat-assessment techniques such as terrestrial and aerial laser scanning and time-lapse photography. Fortunately, no major additional landsliding occurred. However, we did detect small headscarp failures as well as slow movement of the remaining landslide mass with the monitoring system. This was an exceptional response situation and the lessons learned are applicable to other landslide disaster crises. They underscore the need for cogent landslide expertise and ready-to-deploy monitoring equipment, the value of using redundant monitoring techniques with distinct goals, the benefit of clearly defined communication protocols, and the importance of continued research into forecasting landslide behavior to allow timely warning.

Reactivation of Ancient Landslide Deposits: Geological Characteristics and Deformation Mechanism

The ancient Zhenggang landslide (47.5 million m3) represents a potential threat to the construction and safe operation of the proposed Gushui Hydropower Project and to the people living downstream. The landslide was caused by continuous rainfall from October 20 to November 5, 2008, indicating that groundwater aggravated sliding and deformation, and it can be divided into two distinct zones: zone I and zone II. Investigations of the Zhenggang landslide deposits have been conducted for 10 years, but the evolution of the landslide deformation is yet to be revealed. Geological surveys and stability analysis have revealed that the Zhenggang landslide is currently relatively stable and is not sliding. The deformational data for the deep soil layers show that subslide zone I is a translational slide, while subslide zone II is an uplift slide, and zone II is slightly more stable than zone I. Obvious interior deformational failure occurred and was observed in the exploratory adits. The numerical results show that rainfall infiltration is the main factor to induce the revival of ancient landslide, and it is necessary to strengthen the landslide risk assessment and reliability of Zhenggang landslide under the condition of rainfall infiltration. Finally, in order to reduce landslide risks, the local residents living near the landslide mass should be relocated, and measures should be taken to increase slope stability.