Modelling landslides in unsaturated slopes subjected to rainfall infiltration using material point method

This paper presents a dynamic fully coupled formulation for saturated and unsaturated soils that undergo large deformations based on material point method. Governing equations are applied to porous material while considering it as a continuum in which the pores of the solid skeleton are filled with water and air. The accuracy of the developed method is tested with available experimental and numerical results. The developed method has been applied to investigate the failure and post‐failure behaviour of rapid landslides in unsaturated slopes subjected to rainfall infiltration using two different bedrock geometries that lie below the top soil. The models show different failure and post‐failure mechanisms depending on the bedrock geometry and highlight the negative effects of continuous rain infiltrations. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

新疆及中亚地区斜坡灾害研究现状与展望

新疆和中亚五国山河相连,都是"一带一路"建设的重要支点,但也是滑坡、泥石流等斜坡灾害的高发区,且两地的地质灾害发育有着明显的共性.本文对新疆和中亚地区的斜坡灾害研究现状进行综述,分析了两地斜坡灾害形成机理、发育规律,即中高山地分布集中,受降雨和冰雪融水影响很大,黄土滑坡发育.新疆的斜坡灾害研究多围绕公路、水利等工程设施...     

Influence of anthropogenic land‐use change on hillslope erosion in the Waipaoa River Basin,New Zealand

European settlement of the Poverty Bay Region resulted in deforestation and conversion of > 90% of the landscape to pastureland. The resulting loss of vegetation triggered a rapid increase in hillslope erosion as widespread landslide complexes and gully systems developed on weak lithologic units in the Waipaoa Basin. To quantify the rate and volume of historic hillslope degradation, we used a 1956–2010 sequence of aerial photographs for a ~16 km² catchment to map temporal changes in the spatial extent of active landslides. Then we created a ‘turf index’ based on the extent and style of pastoral ground disruption, which correlates with downslope velocity. Based on the movement of trees and other features, we assigned average velocities to the turf classes as follows: (1) minimal disrupted ground: 0.6 m/yr, (2) a mix of disrupted ground and intact blocks: 3.4 m/yr, and (3) no intact blocks or vegetation: > 6 m/yr. We then calculated the average annual sediment flux using these turf‐derived velocities, the width of the landslide‐channel intersection, and an average toe depth of 4.4 ± 1.3 m (mean ± standard deviation [SD]) from 37 field measurements. The resulting catchment averaged erosion rates are (mean ± SD): 29.9 ± 12.9 mm/yr (1956), 28.8 ± 13.7 mm/yr (1969), 13.4 ± 4.9 mm/yr (1979), 17.0 ± 6.2 mm/yr (1988), and 9.9 ± 3.6 mm/yr (2010). Compared with long‐term (post‐18 ka) erosion rates (1.6 mm/yr) and the long‐term uplift rate (~1 mm/yr) for this site, the 50‐year anthropogenically‐driven rate is an order of magnitude larger (~20 mm/yr). Previously, we measured an increase in erosion over the past 3.4 kyr (2.2 mm/yr), and here, we demonstrate this increase could be primarily due to human land‐use change – showing that a century of rapid erosion superimposed on the background geologic rate can profoundly skew the interpretation of erosion rates. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Comparative analysis of contributing parameters for rainfall-triggered landslides in the Lesser Himalaya of Nepal

In the Himalaya, people live in widely spread settlements and suffer more from landslides than from any other type of natural disaster. The intense summer monsoons are the main factor in triggering landslides. However, the relations between landslides and slope hydrology have not been a focal topic in Himalayan landslide research. This paper deals with the contributing parameters for the rainfall-triggered landslides which occurred during an extreme monsoon rainfall event on 23 July 2002, in the south-western hills of Kathmandu valley, in the Lesser Himalaya, Nepal. Parameters such as bedrock geology, geomorphology, geotechnical properties of soil, and clay mineralogy are described in this paper. Landslide modeling was performed in SEEP/W and SLOPE/W to understand the relationship of pore water pressure variations in soil layers and to determine the spatial variation of landslide occurrence. Soil characteristics, low angle of internal friction of fines in soil, medium range of soil permeability, presence of clay minerals in soil, bedrock hydrogeology, and human intervention were found to be the main contributing parameters for slope failures in the region.     

地基SAR在滑坡形变监测中的应用

地基InSAR是近年发展起来的基于地基SAR(GB-SAR)获取地表形变的一种新的技术手段,分辨率高、可实时监测,实现毫米级形变监测精度,为近距离滑坡实时监测与预警提供了先进的技术手段。本文首先以澜沧江某滑坡体为研究对象,在滑坡体对岸设立固定站点,按固定频率进行GB-SAR数据采集;然后通过先后两景影像形成干涉对,利用相干阈值方法提取相干点目标;最后利用形变模型提取滑坡体形变结果。研究表明,地基SAR可获得整个滑体形变边界、形变大小空间分布及时间变化历程,对滑坡体灾害实时监测非常有效,可为滑坡灾害监测及预警提供参考。     

Characteristics of rapid giant landslides in China

Factual data for 70 rapid, giant landslides since 1900 show that the occurrence of these landslides was largely predisposed by tectonics, geological structures, lithology and topography, and often triggered by rainfall and earthquakes. In terms of mobile behavior, the giant landslides can be classified into three types: slides, slide-flows and flows. It is found that each type of landslide was constrained to certain geologic and topographic regimes. There are good correlations between kinematic parameters of landslides and slope geometries, which confirm the important role played by topographical condition in the mobile behavior of landslides. Moreover, it is also found that each type of landslide presents distinct geotechnical characteristics in terms of nature of the slip zone and properties of sliding mass. Brief analyses of five typical cases illustrate that landslide mechanisms can be conceptually depicted by failure mechanisms of their slip zones prior to onset of movement and following energy conversion during movement. Problems and questions related to experience in China suggest that comprehensive and systematic investigation and study on rapid giant landslides are urgently needed.     

基于SBAS- InSAR技术的西藏雄巴古滑坡变形特征

大型古滑坡及其强变形和复活灾害日益频发,已造成重大灾害事件和严重损失.古滑坡的发育、变形影响因素多、机理复杂和识别难度大,本文采用SBAS-InSAR技术,结合遥感解译,获取了金沙江西岸雄巴村古滑坡2017年10月至2020年6月间的地表变形特征.研究表明,雄巴古滑坡方量巨大,可达2.6×108～6×108 m3,根据InSAR形变监测结果,滑坡前缘发育H1和H2等2个大型强变形区,变形级别分为4级:极强变形区(-132.1 mm/a≤VLOS＜-58.5 mm/a)、强变形区(-58.5 mm/a≤VLOS＜-20.3 mm/a)、中等变形区(-20.3 mm/a≤VLOS＜l.8 mm/a)和弱变形区(1.8 mm/a≤VLOS＜55.4 mm/a);其中H1变形区,最大累计变形量达203.8 mm,H2变形区变形量达302.1 mm.受金沙江河流侵蚀,特别是上游75 km的2018年10月和11月白格2次滑坡-堵江-溃坝-泥石流/洪水灾害链对雄巴古滑坡坡脚的侵蚀,加剧了雄巴古滑坡的变形,其中H1变形区的蠕滑速率是白格滑坡灾害链发生前的14～16倍,灾害链引起H2区发生变形,雄巴古滑坡整体呈现牵引式复活状态.基于SBAS-InSAR的形变监测结果得到了野外的验证,目前H1变形区前缘出现局部垮塌,滑体中横向和竖向裂缝发育,局部呈现拉张状态.雄巴古滑坡目前呈现持续变形中,部分地段为加速变形,雄巴古滑坡发生大规模复活将导致堰塞金沙江-溃坝-泥石流灾害链,应加强雄巴古滑坡的空—天—地一体化监测预警,为该区正在规划建设的重大工程和流域性地质安全风险提供技术支撑和科学依据.     

Epigenetic gorges in fluvial landscapes

Epigenetic gorges form when channels that have been laterally displaced during episodes of river blockage or aggradation incise down into bedrock spurs or side‐walls of the former valley rather than excavating unconsolidated fills and reinhabiting the buried paleovalley. Valley‐filling events that promote epigenetic gorges can be localized, such as a landslide dam or an alluvial/debris flow fan deposit at a tributary junction, or widespread, such as fluvial aggradation in response to climate change or fluctuating base‐level. The formation of epigenetic gorges depends upon the competition between the resistance to transport, strength and roughness of valley‐filling sediments and a river's ability to sculpt and incise bedrock. The former affects the location and lateral mobility of a channel incising into valley‐filling deposits; the latter determines rates of bedrock incision should the path of the incising channel intersect with bedrock that is not the paleovalley bottom. Epigenetic gorge incision, by definition, post‐dates the incision that originally cut the valley. Strath terraces and sculpted bedrock walls that form in relation to epigenetic gorges should not be used to directly infer river incision induced by tectonic activity or climate variability. Rather, they are indicative of the variability of short‐term bedrock river incision and autogenic dynamics of actively incising fluvial landscapes. The rate of bedrock incision associated with an epigenetic gorge can be very high (>1 cm/yr), typically orders of magnitude higher than both short‐ and long‐term landscape denudation rates. In the context of bedrock river incision and landscape evolution, epigenetic gorges force rivers to incise more bedrock, slowing long‐term incision and delaying the adjustment of rivers to regional tectonic and climatic forcing. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

降雨诱发浅层黄土滑坡变形破坏机制

由降雨引发的浅层黄土滑坡灾害具有致灾性强、范围广、影响面积大等特点,是黄土高原地区危害严重的地质灾害类型。经典算法采用安全系数描述坡体稳定性,难以对坡体变形破坏的起始位置和实际失效面加以识别,限制了滑坡变形过程的描述和滑坡有效预测。以非饱和土吸应力理论为指导,基于Hydrus中的Slope Cube模块,建立黄土斜坡水-力耦合模型,结合黄土地区易滑坡形态统计数据,针对凸型、凹型、直线型3种坡型与30°、40°、50°三种坡度组合,计算了不同降雨条件下的坡体稳定性响应。结果表明,不同坡型的黄土斜坡对降雨条件具有明显的响应。相同降雨量、相同坡度条件下直线型坡发生浅表层破坏的可能性最低,凹型坡次之、凸型坡的稳定性最差。与之相对应的,相同条件下凸型坡失稳时间最短、凹型坡次之、直线型坡最长。本研究可为浅层滑坡的早期识别和预报提供支撑。