Failures Associated with the 2004 Mindulle Typhoon in Taiwan

On July 2, 2004, a 2000-km southwest air current following the Mindulle Typhoon caused serious damages to infrastructures in Taiwan. The disaster resulted in extensive geological and structural failures, mainly as a result of debris flow. Some of the sites were subjected to types of repeated failures compared to previous typhoons. Some structural failures were attributed to geotechnical failures. It is decided to document and identify causes for some of these major failures triggered by typhoons. The case history showed significant implications to future disaster prevention and management works. New challenges were posed in geotechnical engineering design in encountering rainfall-induced failures.     

Depositional processes and stratigraphic architecture within a coarse-grained rift-margin turbidite system: The Wollaston Forland Group,east Greenland

The Wollaston Forland Basin, NE Greenland, is a half-graben with a Middle Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous basin-fill. In this outcrop study we investigate the facies, architectural elements, depositional environments and sediment delivery systems of the deep marine syn-rift succession. Coarse-grained sand and gravel, as well as large boulders, were emplaced by rock-falls, debris flows and turbulent flows sourced from the immediate footwall. The bulk of these sediments were point-sourced and accumulated in a system of coalescing fans that formed a clastic wedge along the boundary fault system. In addition, this clastic wedge was supplied by a sand-rich turbidite system that is interpreted to have entered the basin axially, possibly via a prominent relay ramp within the main fault system. The proximal part of the clastic wedge consists of a steeply dipping, conformable succession of thick-bedded deposits from gravity flows that transformed down-slope from laminar to turbulent flow behaviour. Pervasive scour-and-fill features are observed at the base of the depositional slope of the clastic wedge, c. 5 km into the basin. These scour-fills are interpreted to have formed from high-density turbulent flows that were forced to decelerate and likely became subject to a hydraulic jump, forming plunge pools at the base of slope. The distal part of the wedge represents a basin plain environment and is characterised by a series of crude fining upward successions that are interpreted to reflect changes in the rate of accommodation generation and sediment supply, following from periodic increases in fault activity. This study demonstrates how rift basin physiography directly influences the behaviour of gravity flows. Conceptual models for the stratigraphic response to periodic fault activity, and the transformation and deposition of coarse-grained gravity flows in a deep water basin with strong contrasts in slope gradients, are presented and discussed.     

Review study on near-natural conditions of Central European mountain streams, with particular reference to debris and beaver dams: Results of the “REG meeting” 2000

This paper summarises the results of the “Rhithron Ecology Group” meeting in Essen (March 2000), supplemented by a literature evaluation.An extended view of small mountain streams in Central Europe under “potentially natural conditions” is presented. We focus on the potential impact of natural transverse structures (debris dams and beaver dams) on stream morphology, hydrology, habitat composition and communities. Furthermore, impact of other stream morphological features, which are presently lacking in the Central European landscape, is described.We suggest that Central European mountain streams are characterised by a higher proportion of lentic zones under “potentially natural conditions”. Morphological degradation leads to a loss of lentic zones and to an increase of current velocities and corresponding changes in faunal composition, particularly higher abundance and proportion of rheophilic species and a decrease of species preferring lentic zones. This should be regarded in future stream assessment.     

泥石流类型与地貌分形特征的关系研究

泥石流是一种频繁发生且危害性很大的自然灾害。作为中国泥石流灾害重灾区之一的陇南地区,泥石流不仅严重阻碍G212线的正常运营,也严重影响沿线地区的经济发展和人民生活。通过对G212线陇南段232条泥石流沟的调查资料分不同属性、不同发展阶段和不同危害程度进行统计,结合分形理论,分析了泥石流沟道数与地貌要素的定量关系。结果表明:地貌形态要素对泥石流的属性、发展阶段和危害程度等不同类型泥石流的影响程度不同;综合分维值、形成区形态参数和地形坡度等参数都在一定程度上定量反映了不同类型泥石流的特征。     

Soil slip/debris flow localized by site attributes and wind-driven rain in the San Francisco Bay region storm of January 1982

GIS analysis at 30-m resolution reveals that effectiveness of slope-destabilizing processes in the San Francisco Bay area varies with compass direction. Nearly half the soil slip/debris flows mapped after the catastrophic rainstorm of 3–5 January 1982 occurred on slopes that face S to WSW, whereas fewer than one-quarter have a northerly aspect. Azimuthal analysis of hillside properties for susceptible terrain near the city of Oakland suggests that the skewed aspect of these landslides primarily reflects vegetation type, ridge and valley alignment, and storm–wind direction. Bedrock geology, soil expansivity, and terrain height and gradient also were influential but less so; the role of surface curvature is not wholly resolved. Normalising soil-slip aspect by that of the region's NNW-striking topography shifts the modal azimuth of soil-slip aspect from SW to SE, the direction of origin of winds during the 1982 storm—but opposite that of the prevailing WNW winds. Wind from a constant direction increases rainfall on windward slopes while diminishing it on leeward slopes, generating a modelled difference in hydrologically effective rainfall of up to 2:1 on steep hillsides in the Oakland area. This contrast is consistent with numerical simulations of wind-driven rain and with rainfall thresholds for debris-flow activity. We conclude that storm winds from the SE in January 1982 raised the vulnerability of the Bay region's many S-facing hillsides, most of which are covered in shallow-rooted shrub and grass that offer minimal resistance to soil slip. Wind-driven rainfall also appears to have controlled debris-flow location in a major 1998 storm and probably others. Incorporating this overlooked influence into GIS models of debris-flow likelihood would improve predictions of the hazard in central California and elsewhere.     

地震极震区岩体滑坡滑动面振动破坏形成与稳定性评价的探讨

汶川Ms8.0级地震表明:极震区地质灾害最严重,滑坡密度、规模和分布面积等远大于该区以外区域。对极震区岩石坡体稳定性与滑坡发生的预测评价,必须考虑极震区地震波的特点与岩体的地质结构及其弱层面力学强度。已有方法只考虑水平加速度的作用对极震区可能得不到符合实际的结果。根据岩体结构力学观点,结合岩石强度分析,提出极震区发生滑坡主要是坡体中的弱层弱面发生了张破坏或剪破坏以及两种破坏的结合—张剪破坏。极震区地震波入射地表角度大,必须应用合向量作用的地震力来评价坡体的稳定性,同时分别考虑P波和S波的作用。对两种常见的单一弱层面和双弱层面组合的简单地质模型,根据极限平衡原理、定义了5种破坏类型在指定方向的临界破坏加速度,只要代入地震作用方位角与岩体弱层面的几何参数及其力学强度,就能计算出不同破坏类型的临界加速度,然后用实际地震加速度转换成指定方向的加速度,与临界加速度进行比较,即可判断滑动面形成破坏的力学类型与坡体稳定性。强调了这种方法只有在详细工程地质工作的基础上才能获得好的结果。     

Modeling the effect of sediment concentration on the flow-like behavior of natural debris flow

The rheological behavior of natural slurries consisting of fine-grained, reconstituted debris-flow deposits on pyroclastic terrains having different solid concentrations (ranging from 30 to 42%) has been investigated using a rotational rheometer equipped with a vane rotor system. Experiments were done by increasing the applied shear stress step by step; then a decreasing stress ramp was applied following the same shear stress levels. The slurry mixtures exhibit a typical yield-stress fluid behavior with a static yield stress larger than the dynamic yield stress. In the range of the shear rate corresponding to the flow-like behavior the slurry mixtures behave as a dilatant fluid at lower grain concentrations and as a pseudoplastic fluid in correspondence with the higher grain content, showing a strong discrepancy from the Bingham idealization. The rheological behavior is better interpreted by a Herschel-Bulkley model, whose rheological parameters strongly depend on the granular concentration. Therefore, a generalized Herschel-Bulkley model accounting for the bulk sediment concentration effect is proposed.     

汶川震区震后七盘沟多级堵溃泥石流形成条件分析

汶川地震导致崩塌滑坡等松散固体物源剧增,为泥石流的形成和加剧创造了基本条件。堵沟溃决型泥石流的形成过程特殊,暴发突然,历时短暂,规模远大于正常泥石流,侵蚀携带能力较强,常造成重大危害。本文以汶川震区七盘沟泥石流为例,分析了泥石流的基本形成条件,详细阐述了堵溃点基本特征,重点分析泥石流多级堵溃过程,为进一步认识震后堵溃泥石流的形成过程、参数取值、防治措施提供参考。     

Directed blasts and blast-generated pyroclastic density currents: a comparison of the Bezymianny 1956, Mount St Helens 1980, and Soufrière Hills,Montserrat 1997 eruptions and deposits

We compare eruptive dynamics, effects and deposits of the Bezymianny 1956 (BZ), Mount St Helens 1980 (MSH), and Soufrière Hills volcano, Montserrat 1997 (SHV) eruptions, the key events of which included powerful directed blasts. Each blast subsequently generated a high-energy stratified pyroclastic density current (PDC) with a high speed at onset. The blasts were triggered by rapid unloading of an extruding or intruding shallow magma body (lava dome and/or cryptodome) of andesitic or dacitic composition. The unloading was caused by sector failures of the volcanic edifices, with respective volumes for BZ, MSH, and SHV c. 0.5, 2.5, and 0.05 km³. The blasts devastated approximately elliptical areas, axial directions of which coincided with the directions of sector failures. We separate the transient directed blast phenomenon into three main parts, the burst phase, the collapse phase, and the PDC phase. In the burst phase the pressurized mixture is driven by initial kinetic energy and expands rapidly into the atmosphere, with much of the expansion having an initially lateral component. The erupted material fails to mix with sufficient air to form a buoyant column, but in the collapse phase, falls beyond the source as an inclined fountain, and thereafter generates a PDC moving parallel to the ground surface. It is possible for the burst phase to comprise an overpressured jet, which requires injection of momentum from an orifice; however some exploding sources may have different geometry and a jet is not necessarily formed. A major unresolved question is whether the preponderance of strong damage observed in the volcanic blasts should be attributed to shock waves within an overpressured jet, or alternatively to dynamic pressures and shocks within the energetic collapse and PDC phases. Internal shock structures related to unsteady flow and compressibility effects can occur in each phase. We withhold judgment about published shock models as a primary explanation for the damage sustained at MSH until modern 3D numerical modeling is accomplished, but argue that much of the damage observed in directed blasts can be reasonably interpreted to have been caused by high dynamic pressures and clast impact loading by an inclined collapsing fountain and stratified PDC. This view is reinforced by recent modeling cited for SHV. In distal and peripheral regions, solids concentration, maximum particle size, current speed, and dynamic pressure are diminished, resulting in lesser damage and enhanced influence by local topography on the PDC. Despite the different scales of the blasts (devastated areas were respectively 500, 600, and >10 km² for BZ, MSH, and SHV), and some complexity involving retrogressive slide blocks and clusters of explosions, their pyroclastic deposits demonstrate strong similarity. Juvenile material composes >50% of the deposits, implying for the blasts a dominantly magmatic mechanism although hydrothermal explosions also occurred. The character of the magma fragmented by explosions (highly viscous, phenocryst-rich, variable microlite content) determined the bimodal distributions of juvenile clast density and vesicularity. Thickness of the deposits fluctuates in proximal areas but in general decreases with distance from the crater, and laterally from the axial region. The proximal stratigraphy of the blast deposits comprises four layers named A, B, C, D from bottom to top. Layer A is represented by very poorly sorted debris with admixtures of vegetation and soil, with a strongly erosive ground contact; its appearance varies at different sites due to different ground conditions at the time of the blasts. The layer reflects intense turbulent boundary shear between the basal part of the energetic head of the PDC and the substrate. Layer B exhibits relatively well-sorted fines-depleted debris with some charred plant fragments; its deposition occurred by rapid suspension sedimentation in rapidly waning, high-concentration conditions. Layer C is mainly a poorly sorted massive layer enriched by fines with its uppermost part laminated, created by rapid sedimentation under moderate-concentration, weakly tractive conditions, with the uppermost laminated part reflecting a dilute depositional regime with grain-by-grain traction deposition. By analogy to laboratory experiments, mixing at the flow head of the PDC created a turbulent dilute wake above the body of a gravity current, with layer B deposited by the flow body and layer C by the wake. The uppermost layer D of fines and accretionary lapilli is an ash fallout deposit of the finest particles from the high-rising buoyant thermal plume derived from the sediment-depleted pyroclastic density current. The strong similarity among these eruptions and their deposits suggests that these cases represent similar source, transport and depositional phenomena.     

房山周口店车厂北沟泥石流特征及防治

泥石流是北京地区危害性严重的地质灾害之一,作为北京"7·21"特大暴雨灾害受灾最为严重的区县,房山区近现代泥石流一直比较活跃,灾情严重。为了查清房山区"7·21"特大暴雨后典型泥石流灾害发育和运动特征,本文选取了车厂村北沟作为样本,通过采用现场调查、槽探、岩土测试等方法,对主沟整体流域进行了系统研究。从而查清了形成区的物源类型和可移动物源储量,掌握了全流域的沟道形态特征;通过对堆积区堆积形态和堆积物调查分析,论述了主沟水动力特征和冲淤特征;根据相关规范,计算得出了泥石流的动力学参数。分析了泥石流形成机理,进行了危险性评价,提出了防治对策。