As áreas urbanas precárias, também denominadas de favelas são as mais frequentemente afetadas por escorregamentos e também as mais vulneráveis, gerando danos sociais de maior monta. Este cenário resultou na demanda e no desenvolvimento de uma série de ações do poder público em diferentes municípios e estados brasileiros, culminando com o estabelecimento de um programa federal, vinculado ao Ministério das Cidades, voltado à mitigação destes riscos com o desenvolvimento de mapeamentos e a implantação de planos preventivos de defesa civil, de obras de estabilização e de reurbanização nestas áreas de risco. No estado de São Paulo, o mapeamento de escorregamento em encostas urbanas precárias vem sendo realizado desde 1990, através das iniciativas de órgãos públicos e com a participação de diversas instituições. O método de mapeamento atualmente mais utilizado emprega como técnicas principais a realização de vistorias sistemáticas de campo, investigações de superfície, utilização de fichas descritivas para armazenar as informações coletadas e a delimitação de setores de risco em imagens aéreas recentes e de grande escala e de detalhe. Este método é bastante aplicado e muitas vezes consegue subsidiar satisfatoriamente as ações de mitigação dos riscos de escorregamentos, indicando os locais prioritários para receberem estas ações. Por outro lado, o método também é questionado pelo meio técnico devido sua abordagem qualitativa, pela pouca utilização dos métodos clássicos de mapeamento geotécnico e de análise de estabilidade de taludes e pelo grau elevado de subjetividade que pode agregar, podendo produzir resultados de baixa confiabilidade. A contribuição da presente pesquisa é o aprimoramento do método de mapeamento de perigo e de risco de escorregamentos em áreas urbanas, diminuindo a subjetividade na comparação e na hierarquização dos setores, sem modificar sua abordagem fundamental e suas técnicas principais atualmente utilizadas. Para tornar o método mais sistemático, propõe-se incorporar o Processo de Análise Hierárquica (AHP) na análise dos indicadores e na hierarquização dos setores de perigo. Comparou-se o mapeamento de perigo com a aplicação do AHP com o mapeamento de risco de escorregamentos realizado em São Sebastião (SP) pelo IG-SMA em 2005, verificando-se que os resultados do mapeamento de perigo com a aplicação do AHP foram mais conservadores em algumas áreas. Entretanto, os resultados com a aplicação do AHP, diminuiu a subjetividade e evidenciou a facilidade e praticidade em se verificar a contribuição (em forma de peso) dos indicadores de perigo na classificação do perigo nos setores mapeados. Também foram analisadas as opiniões de três especialistas nos julgamentos paritários dos indicadores de perigo de escorregamentos. Os resultados não mostraram discrepâncias na classificação do perigo. / The poor urban areas, also called slums are the most frequently affected by landslides and also the most vulnerable, leading to greater social harm mounts. This situation pushed a series of actions by public authorities in several Brazilian cities and states. In the federal level was, established a program, under the auspice of the Ministry of Cities, aimed to mitigating these risks with the development of hazard and risk mapping projects and implementation of preventive plans for civil defense, works of stabilization and redevelopment in these areas of risk. In the State of São Paulo, the landslide mapping on poor and slum urban areas has been held since 1990 in several municipalities, through the initiatives of government agencies and with the participation of many institutions. The mapping method employs currently more used as main techniques to carry out systematic field surveys, surface investigations, use of fact sheets to store the information collected and the delimitation of areas of hazard and risk in aerial images, and recent large-scale and detail. This mapping method has been widely applied and often gave satisfactorily support to the initiatives to mitigate the risks of landslides, indicating the prior sites to receive those initiatives. Nevertheless, the method is questioned by the specialists because of its qualitative approach, the lack of use of traditional methods of geological and geotechnical investigation and analysis of slope stability and the high degree of subjectivity that sometimes can produce unreliable results. The expected contribution to this research is to enhance the method of hazard mapping and risk of landslides in poor and slum urban areas by reducing its subjectivity for the comparison and ranking of sectors. It is not the intent of the research to change, its fundamental approach and its main techniques currently used. To this end, it is proposed to incorporate to the method the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) in the systematic analysis of the indicators and the ranking of hazard sectors. We compared the hazard mapping with the application of the AHP and landslide risk mapping conducted in São Sebastião - SP by the IG-SMA in 2005, verifying that the results of the hazard mapping in the application of the AHP were more conservative in some areas. However, the results from the application of the AHP, decreased the subjectivity and demonstrated the ease and convenience to verify the contribution (in the form of weight) of the hazard indicators in the ranking of hazard in the areas mapped. We also analyzed the opinions of three experts in the trials of parity landslides hazard indicators. The results showed no discrepancies in the ranking of hazard.

Orientador: Francisco Sergio Bernardes Ladeira / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Geociencias / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-11T22:47:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Sabio_GessikaPollonPuerta_M.pdf: 4540302 bytes, checksum: 79891642e3dc458939eec117d59ee7b1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008 / Resumo: A realização de pesquisas voltadas à obtenção de dados qualitativos e quantitativos do manto intempérico de encostas de ambientes tropicais úmidos, é extremamente escassa. O conhecimento de dados de profundidade e de volume do manto intempérico, principalmente, nas áreas de risco de escorregamentos de massa, podem ser muito úteis para o estabelecimento de ações preventivas e de monitoramento de caráter estrutural. A presente pesquisa objetivou realizar o cálculo do volume do manto intempérico, nas encostas da bacia do rio Tavares, no município de Ubatuba - SP. Para tal foram utilizados procedimentos de campo, basicamente através da realização de tradagens, unidos às rotinas e análises geoestatísticas de um Sistema de Informação Geográfica, com o fim de obter como resultado um Modelo Digital de Elevação que representasse a profundidade do manto intempérico da área de estudo e, conseqüentemente, revelasse o volume de material compreendido entre a superfície e o contato manto/rocha. Após a realização de todas as etapas necessárias para a elaboração do Modelo Digital de Elevação, foram elaboradas diversas hipóteses que tentassem explicar o fato de que, após a validação, o modelo foi considerado inviável para aplicação. / Abstract: The completion, implementation or realization of researches aimed to the qualitative and quantitative data of the weathering mantle of slopes of humid tropical environments is extremely scarce. Knowledge of thickness and volume data of the weathering mantle, mainly in the landslides risk areas, may be very useful for the establishment of preventive measures and monitoring of structural character. This research aimed to perform the calculation of the weathering mantle volume of the slopes of Tavares river basin, in Ubatuba - SP. For this, were used such field procedures and geostatistical analyses of a Geographic Information System in order to obtain as a result a Digital Elevation Model that represents the thickness of the weathering mantle of the study area and thus reveal the volume of material between the surface of soil and the mantle/rock contact. After of the completion of all this steps, were compiled some hypotheses that attempt to explain why, after the validation, the model was considered impracticable to apply. / Mestrado / Análise Ambiental e Dinâmica Territorial / Mestre em Geografia

It is being increasingly realized that there exists an interrelationship between seismicity and rock slope failures. Possible chronological clustering of rock avalanches in the Fraser River corridor was investigated to determine if a common seismic trigger existed. It was determined that the events occurred throughout the Holocene indicating that either these slides were not seismically triggered or that seismic triggers were chronologically unrelated. Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquakes are believed to have occurred throughout the Holocene (Adams, 1989; Atwater, 1987; Hull, 1987). The ages of the earthquakes were compared to the ages of rock avalanches in the Fraser River corridor, but no distinct correlation could be made. The lack of distinct correlation between large rock avalanches in Fraser Corridor and paleoseismicity, and the absence of event clustering, indicated either seismicity was not a factor, or that these rock avalanches may not have been susceptible to seismic triggering. A stability study of Cheam Slide was performed to investigate the susceptibility of large rock avalanches to earthquake triggering. The results suggested that the seismic susceptibility of a slope is closely linked to the displacement the slope must undergo for failure to take place. A large critical displacement may render the slope relatively insensitive to seismic triggering, while a low critical displacement may result in high seismic susceptibility. A comparison was made between the effects of seismic and pore pressure related triggering. The results indicated that a high critical displacement slope, which is close to failure, may be more likely to fail by high pore pressures than by seismic loading. Low critical displacement slopes which are stable enough to surviving hydrodynamic loading may, because of their susceptibility to seismic triggering, pose the greatest hazard. / Science, Faculty of / Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Department of / Graduate

L'évolution des paysages est au coeur d'un système complexe d'interactions entre les phénomènes tectoniques, climatiques et érosifs. Si le contrôle principal du climat sur les taux d'érosion est encore sujet à débat, les régions montagneuses restent un milieu particulièrement sensible aux modifications climatiques. Pour mieux appréhender ces liens en milieu montagneux et le contrôle des processus d'érosion, il est nécessaire de comprendre et de quantifier l'importance de chaque phénomène érosif dans l'évolution des paysages. Parmi ceux-ci, les glissements de terrain sont un phénomène brusque, imprévisible et souvent catastrophique pouvant mobiliser des volumes rocheux considérables. De nombreux travaux suggèrent d'ailleurs que les glissements constituent le principal agent de l'érosion des pentes dans les vallées non englacées de l'Himalaya. L'objectif de cette thèse est de mieux appréhender l'évolution et la dynamique des glissements de terrain de l'Himalaya central et leur rôle dans l'érosion de cette chaîne de montagnes, sur une large échelle de temps. Ces travaux ont été menés selon 3 axes principaux imbriqués spatialement et temporellement. Le bassin de la Khudi Khola, au Népal central, présente un large glissement de terrain, actif depuis plusieurs décennies. Cette particularité nous a permis d'étudier en détail ce glissement, dans un contexte d'érosion intense, au jour le jour, à l'échelle d'une mousson et sur plusieurs décennies. L'histoire du glissement de Saituti a été reconstituée grâce à l'analyse d'images satellite et aériennes. Une activité continue, bien que variable, du glissement depuis près d'un demi siècle a pu être observée. L'estimation des volumes de sédiments produits par le glissement a permis de mettre en évidence la place prépondérante de cette structure érosive dans l'érosion totale du bassin au cours des dernières années, voire des dernières décennies. La dynamique quotidienne des mouvements au sein du glissement associée à l'export des sédiments par le réseau de drainage ont également été observés. Il apparaît un découplage entre les mouvements de terrain, donc la production de sédiments, qui sont contrôlés par le niveau de nappe, et l'export du matériel par la rivière, dépendant du débit de surface. Une fois initiés, les mouvements se poursuivent durant toute la période de mousson, mais seuls les épisodes pluvieux importants permettent un transport efficace du matériel produit à la rivière. Les flux annuels de matière en suspension dans la rivière ont également pu être estimés et s'accordent au premier ordre avec les volumes créés par le glissement. Ces résultats suggèrent également le rôle principal du glissement de Saituti dans l'érosion de la vallée. A l'échelle de l'Himalaya central, l'activité des glissements au cours de la dernière décennie témoigne d'une domination de l'érosion par des événements majeurs, de l'ordre de plusieurs millions de mètres cubes, similaires à celui de Saituti. Cette étude montre qu'à moyen terme, de tels glissements peuvent influencer très fortement les concentrations en isotopes cosmogéniques des sables de rivières dans les bassins versants de taille intermédiaire (quelques centaines de km2). La concentration de ces sables apparaît principalement dépendante de la date et de l'amplitude du dernier événement majeur de glissement. Dans ces environnements, les taux de dénudation déterminés par l'utilisation des isotopes cosmogéniques doivent être interprétés avec beaucoup de précaution. Ainsi, l'activité, possiblement continue, de quelques glissements de terrain peut exercer une influence majeure sur l'érosion des vallées de l'Himalaya central. Ce facteur doit être pris en compte dans l'analyse des processus érosifs ainsi que dans les modèles d'évolution des paysages, à court et moyen terme / Landscape evolution is at the heart of a complex system of interactions between tectonics, climate and erosion. While the influence of climate on erosion rates is still debated, mountainous areas are a priori particularly sensitive to climatic changes. In order to better understand these interactions, it is of fundamental importance to quantify the importance of each erosion process, in addition to their sensitivity to rainfall. Among the erosion processes, landslides represent a major, unpredictable and often catastrophic, phenomenon that can involve considerable volumes of rocks. Many previous works have shown that landslides are the primary agent of hillslope erosion in the unglaciated valleys of the Himalayas. From this point of view, the aim of this work is to better constrain landslide evolution and dynamics in the central Himalayas, and their role in the erosion of this mountain range, on different timescales. The Khudi Khola catchment, in central Nepal, displays a large landsliding zone that has been active for several decades, in a context of intense erosion. This characteristic provides the opportunity to study this landslide in detail, from timescales ranging from an hour to several decades. The Saituti landslide history was reconstructed from analysis of satellite and aerial images. A continuous, but variable, activity of the landslide has been observed for almost a half century. Estimates of sediment volumes produced by the landslide highlight the dominant role this erosive structure plays in the overall catchment erosion over the last few years and possibly for the past few decades. Indeed, the landslide-induced erosion rates are in the same range as the total erosion rates, i.e. around 2.5 mm/y. The daily dynamics of the landslide were also studied, as well as the sediment export to the drainage network. The results highlight a decoupling between the displacements and the sediment production within the landslide, and the export of sediment to the river. The baseflow level primarily controls these displacements, while the export is more dependant on the runoff discharge that follows rainfall peaks. Once the slide is set in motion, it keeps moving during the whole monsoon period. However, only intense rainfall events result in an efficient transport of sediment to the river. The annual flux of suspended load were estimated at the Khudi mouth, these roughly agree with the volumes of landslide material. These results confirm the dominant role of the Saituti landslide in the overall catchment erosion and suggest rapid export of the landslide sediment to the river mouth. On the scale of the entire central Himalayas, landslide activity over the last decade highlights a deficit of landslides, compared to independent estimates of secular denudation rates. Nevertheless, this activity is dominated by major events, in the range of several millions cubic metres, such as the Saituti one. The stochastic nature of landslides influences the variability of sediment fluxes in the river. However, this study also highlights that, in medium-sized catchments (around a few hundred square kilometres) such landslides may strongly influence the median concentration of cosmogenic nuclides in river sands. This concentration seems to be primarily dependant on the date and on the magnitude of the last major slide event. In such environments, secular denudation rates estimated from cosmogenic nuclides need to be interpreted very cautiously. The (possibly) long-lasting activity of a few large landslides can then strongly influence the erosion of the Himalayan valleys. This parameter should be taken into account in studies of short- to mid-tem erosion processes as well as in landscape evolution models generally.

Time-dependent behavior of natural and excavated slopes in sedimentary rocks is a subject that is poorly understood at present but that is now an important consideration in the design, operation, and reclamation of energy-extraction facilities, in part because of the environmental considerations mandated by the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (Public Law 95-87). A slide in an abandoned, unreclaimed strip mine northwest of Sheridan, Wyoming, has been analyzed as an example of a long-term slope failure in the region. This slide occurred in early 1975, some 20 years after cessation of mining. This investigation used Spencer's limiting equilibrium method and an elastic-plastic finite element method incorporating the Drucker-Prager yield criterion. This slide was found to fit the model for time-dependent failure proposed by Nelson and Thompson (1977) in which the time to failure is related to Skempton's residual factor. The Nelson-Thompson hypothesis is extended for use with the three-dimensional Drucker-Prager yield criterion. The residual factor (R) may be computed from the factors of safety with respect to peak (F(p)) and residual (Fᵣ) material properties, using either the Mohr-Coulomb or Drucker-Prager criterion, by the relationship R = [(F(p) - 1)/(F(p)-Fᵣ)] At the present time, the Spencer limiting equilibrium analysis is a more usable tool for ordinary slope design than the elastic-plastic finite element analysis because of the speed, simplicity, and ease of including the effects of ground water in the Spencer analysis.

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology / Unrestricted

No description available.

Unlike other thermo-mechanical soil responses, the effects of temperature on residual shear strength of soils are not well understood. Previous studies on temperature effects on residual shear strength show some contradictory findings that might be attributed to the sample's mineralogical composition and the testing procedure. This thesis aims to contribute to the understanding of (1) the temperature effects on the liquid limit of cohesive soils, (2) the impact of testing procedure on temperature-dependent residual friction angle, and (3) temperature effects on residual friction angle of soils. The fall cone tests are used to determine temperature effects on the liquid limit, while a temperature-modified ring shear apparatus is used to evaluate the residual friction angle in this study. To assess the impact of the testing procedure, the temperature is changed to 50°C at three different instants: before consolidation, before preshearing, and after preshearing; the resulting residual friction angles are assessed and compared. The effects of temperature on residual friction angle of soils are also investigated by changing the temperature in the ring shear apparatus to 10°C, 20°C, 40°C, and 50°C before consolidation. The study found that the impacts of temperature on liquid limit is mineralogy dependent. Also, the instant at which temperature change occurs in ring shear tests was found to be insignificant in terms of the residual friction angle. Moreover, the findings of the ring shear experiments suggest that clay mineralogy is important in the study of temperature-dependent residual friction angle of cohesive soils. Antigorite-rich soils may experience up to 50% changes in their residual friction angle, while soils with other clay minerals may experience less than 20% variations over a temperature range from 10 to 50 °C. / Master of Science / The increase in the frequency of landslides was found to be attributed to seasonal variation in temperature and an increase in global temperature due to climate change. To anticipate, mitigate and adapt to this costly natural disaster, understanding soil response to temperature change is an essential step. The residual shear strength of a soil is a parameter used to analyze stability of landslides. The relationship between this residual shear strength and temperature is not well understood. Previous studies on temperature effects on residual shear strength show some contradictory findings that need to be better understood for a more robust assessment of the climate change impacts on the stability of natural and man-made slopes. This thesis represents a first step to fill the knowledge gap in identifying the temperature effects on the residual shear strength of soils so that the impact of climate change and seasonal variation in temperature on slopes can be assessed more rigorously. This study consists of three tasks. The first task is to assess the effects of temperature on liquid limit, a parameter widely used to estimate the residual shear strength. The second task is to investigate the impacts of the testing procedures on residual shear strength, representing three field conditions where temperature change takes place at three different instants: when the soils is consolidating under applied load, after the soil consolidated and before development of a failure plan, and after failure initiated. The last task is to assess the effects of temperature on residual shear strength of soils. From the study, it was found that the effects of temperature on liquid limits and residual shear strength are dependent on the soil's mineralogical composition. It was also found that the instant in which the temperature changes in the testing procedure does not substantially impact the residual friction angle of the soil.

In-ground slope monitoring is an essential part of landslide early warning systems. Precise movement data from borehole monitors can detect emerging hazards near critical infrastructure. Typically, monitoring is done with inclinometers, but lower-cost alternatives have emerged which have yet to be tested in Tennessee. Time domain reflectometry (TDR) records magnitudes and depths of movements along a buried coaxial cable. When paired with a remote data logger, TDR can wirelessly transmit high resolution movement data in real time, making it promising for landslide early warning systems. Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) has proposed a one-year feasibility study to test TDR for use in unstable soil slopes near highways. The study area is a well-known landslide site along Interstate 40 in Roane County, TN. Careful siting of borehole instrumentation is crucial for accurate monitoring. The goal of this study is to optimize TDR installation, with three specific aims: (i) evaluate landslide morphology, (ii) pinpoint locations and depths with greatest movement, and (iii) assess spatiotemporal patterns across the site. Statistical analysis of prior data from 13 inclinometers showed ongoing slope movement over the 21-acre complex landslide. Spatial interpolation suggested an asymmetrical failure surface with both shallow and deep motion. Space-time cube analysis indicated varying movement rates and timing across the site, suggesting separate landslide bodies. Based on these results, three optimal borehole depths and locations were proposed for TDR instruments. This analysis will ensure accuracy in tests of TDR for early warning system feasibility in Tennessee.

Landslides are a natural hazard that is expected to increase in the future, due to climate change. In order to keep risk management plans up to date, an efficient inventory method is needed. In previous studies, multi-temporal high-resolution digital elevation models (DEM) produced with LiDAR technology have been used successfully for landslide inventory and monitoring in different parts of the world. The aim of this study has been to discover an inventory method for landslides in Sweden, using two generations of elevation data produced with LiDAR. The analysis was performed in GIS with the creation of a DEM of difference (DoD) and visual comparison as key components. The sites were also verified using Google Earth satellite imagery and aerial photos. The result of the study shows that a functional, efficient method was developed and several potential landslides were found in the three different study areas. The soil characteristics, slope gradient and distance to areas affected by forestry were recorded for all potential landslide sites. Using multi-temporal DEM for landslide inventory is time- and cost efficient, and the results are more accurate compared to traditional inventory techniques. Hopefully the method developed in this study can be used on a larger scale and lead to updated risk management and prevention plans throughout all risk areas for landslides in Sweden. In future studies field work is recommended to verify the potential landslide sites.