Landslide hazard evaluation: a review of current techniques and their application in a multi-scale study, Central Italy

Changes in solar radiation arising from changes in the orientation of the earth's axis had pronounced effects on tropical monsoons and mid-latitude climates as well as on ice-sheet configuration du...

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/241/4869/1043.full.pdf

Climatic changes of the last 18,000 years: observations and model simulations

A classification system for natural rivers is presented in which a morphological arrangement of stream characteristics is organized into relatively homogeneous stream types. This paper describes morphologically similar stream reaches that are divided into 7 major stream type categories that differ in entrenchment, gradient, width/depth ratio, and sinuosity in various landforms. Within each major category are six additional types delineated by dominate channel materials from bedrock to silt/clay along a continuum of gradient ranges. Recent stream type data used to further define classification interrelationships were derived from 450 rivers throughout the U.S, Canada, and New Zealand. Data used in the development of this classification involved a great diversity of hydro-physiographic/geomorphic provinces from small to large rivers and in catchments from headwater streams in the mountains to the coastal plains. A stream hierarchical inventory system is presented which utilizes the stream classification system. Examples for use of this stream classification system for engineering, fish habitat enhancement, restoration and water resource management applications are presented. Specific examples of these applications include hydraulic geometry relations, sediment supply/availability, fish habitat structure evaluation, flow resistance, critical shear stress estimates, shear stress/velocity relations, streambank erodibility potential, management interpretations, sequences of morphological evolution, and river restoration principles.

https://www.cpp.edu/~marshall/rs414/RS414_Readings/Rosgen_94_Classification_of_Natural_Rivers.pdf

A classification of natural rivers

Data drawn from a global compilation of studies quantitatively confirm the long-articulated contention that erosion rates from conventionally plowed agricultural fields average 1–2 orders of magnitude greater than rates of soil production, erosion under native vegetation, and long-term geological erosion. The general equivalence of the latter indicates that, considered globally, hillslope soil production and erosion evolve to balance geologic and climate forcing, whereas conventional plow-based agriculture increases erosion rates enough to prove unsustainable. In contrast to how net soil erosion rates in conventionally plowed fields (≈1 mm/yr) can erode through a typical hillslope soil profile over time scales comparable to the longevity of major civilizations, no-till agriculture produces erosion rates much closer to soil production rates and therefore could provide a foundation for sustainable agriculture.

https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/104/33/13268.full.pdf

Soil erosion and agricultural sustainability

We review rainfall thresholds for the initiation of landslides world wide and propose new empirical rainfall thresholds for the Central European Adriatic Danubian South-Eastern Space (CADSES) area, located in central and southern Europe. One-hundred-twenty-four empirical thresholds linking measurements of the event and the antecedent rainfall conditions to the occurrence of landslides are considered. We then describe a database of 853 rainfall events that resulted or did not result in landslides in the CADSES area. Rainfall and landslide information in the database was obtained from the literature; climate information was obtained from the global climate dataset compiled by the Climate Research Unit of the East Anglia University. We plot the intensity-duration values in logarithmic coordinates, and we establish that with increased rainfall duration the minimum intensity likely to trigger slope failures decreases linearly, in the range of durations from 20 minutes to ∼12 days. Based on this observation, we determine minimum intensity-duration (ID) and normalized-ID thresholds for the initiation of landslides in the CADSES area. Normalization is performed using two climatic indexes, the mean annual precipitation (MAP) and the rainy-day-normal (RDN). Threshold curves are inferred from the available data using a Bayesian statistical technique. Analysing the obtained thresholds we establish that lower average rainfall intensity is required to initiate landslides in an area with a mountain climate, than in an area characterized by a Mediterranean climate. We further suggest that for rainfall periods exceeding ∼12 days landslides are triggered by factors not considered by the ID model. The obtained thresholds can be used in operation landslide warning systems, where more accurate local or regional thresholds are not available.

Rainfall thresholds for the initiation of landslides in central and southern Europe

Hillslope Materials and Processes

Introduction 1. Bonds 2. Particles and fabrics of soil and weak sediments 3. Stress, strain, and rheology of materials 4. Strength of earth materials 5. Properties of rock masses 6. Properties of soils 7. Weathering processes 8. Landforms from weathering, soils, and duricrusts 9. Hillslope stratigraphy and form 10. Water in soils and hillslope hydrology 11. Erosion of hillslopes by raindrops and flowing water 12. Mass wasting of soils 13. Flow failures on hillslopes 14. Rock slope processes 15. Models and hillslope development 16. Landslide hazards: avoidance and protection 17. Magnitudes and frequencies of erosional events 18. Rates of denudation and their implications Appendix

Hillslope materials and processes

Landforms of New Zealand

Michael Crozier has sent out to provide answers to a number of the basic questions which are asked about landslides, and to provide a critical review and synthesis of the present state of knowledge on the topic. The level of treatment and style of writing are appropriate for the understanding of most informed people who need general and specific information about landslides, rather than for the specialist in geomechanics.

Landslides: Causes, consequences and environment

This textbook for first year university studies gives a comprehensive review of geomorphology. It stresses the importance of the theory of tectonic and climatic changes on a global scale and so takes account of the two revolutions which are occurring in the Earth Sciences at the present time. The book has three main parts. In the first, global tectonics is used as the framework for discussion of the Earth's major relief features, their development and structure, and the landforms resulting from tectonism. The second part is concerned with the nature of geomorphic resistance and of the processes of weathering, erosion and deposition. In the final part the significance of and evidence for, climatic change and long-term evolution of landforms are discussed, and the evidence for the impact of climate and climatic change upon the major bioclimatic zones of the continents is reviewed. The clear and straightforward style, together with the liberal number of illustrations, should make the material accessible to all students who wish to have an understanding of landforms through an analysis of their relation to structural, tectonic and earth surface processes.

M. J. Selby

Papers

Hillslope Materials and Processes

Hillslope materials and processes

Landforms of New Zealand

Landslides: Causes, consequences and environment

Earth's Changing Surface: An Introduction to Geomorphology