Mitigation: Mechanics, Monitoring, Modeling, and Assessment - Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Debris-Flow Hazards Mitigation. All rights reserved. Debris-slides are a frequent hazard in fragile decomposed metasedimentary rocks in the Anakeesta rock formation in Great Smoky Mountain National Park. The spatial distribution of an existing debris-slide area could be used to prepare susceptibility map for future debris-slide initiation zones. This work aims to create a debris-slide susceptibility map by using a knowledge-driven method in a GIS platform in Anakeesta formation of Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Six geofactors, namely, elevation, annual rainfall, slope curvature, landcover, soil texture and various slope failure modes were used to create the susceptibility map. Debris-slide locations were mapped from the satellite imagery, previous studies, and field visits. A Weighted Overlay Analysis was performed in order to generate the final susceptibility map, where individual classes of geofactors were ranked and were assigned weights based on their influence on debris-slide. The final susceptibility map was classified into five categories: very low, low, moderate, high and very high susceptible zones. Validation of the result shows very high category predicted ~10%, high and moderate categories predicted 75.5% and ~14.5% of the existing debris-slide pixels respectively. This study successfully depicts the advantage and usefulness of the knowledge-driven method, which can save considerable amount of time and reduce complicated data analysis unlike statistical or physical based methods. However, the accuracy of the model highly depends on the researcher’s experience of the area and selection of respective geofactors.

Renewable energy development is breaking global records each year. European and national Swedish legislation target substantial portions of wind energy production by 2040. Sweden has ambitious objectives for wind energy, with plans to nearly triple its wind energy proportion in the next 17 years. However, expanding wind energy also requires using forest lands, which raises concerns for biodiversity and landscape fragmentation. The objective of this study is to determine the values impacted by wind energy development in the Swedish boreal forest to identify appropriate low-impact locations for the construction of Wind Turbine Generators (WTG). The study employs an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and a Weighted Overlay Analysis (WOA) to categorise potential areas for WTG deployment. Twenty-four input constraints are distributed into six categories and analysed in three stages, resulting in a suitability map and a numerical data output. The analysis conducted across six northern boreal counties indicates that significant parts of northern Sweden are unsuitable for wind energy development due to insufficient wind speeds and numerous water bodies. Cultural and botanical value areas further limit some areas' potential for wind energy development. The findings indicate that 25.85% of the northernmost six counties are viable for constructing wind energy facilities, surpassing the national target area for renewable energy by a considerable margin. The research indicates that forested boreal counties in Sweden provide significant potential for the sustainable development of wind energy, whilst preserving biodiversity and avoiding interference with faunal, societal, and cultural values.

An inventory of unstable slopes along transportation corridors and performance modeling are important components of geotechnical asset management in Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GRSM). Hazards and risk were assessed for 285 unstable slopes along 151 miles of roadway. A multi-criteria model was created to select fourteen sites for two-dimensional probabilistic rockfall simulations and Acid Base Accounting (ABA) tests. Simulations indicate that rock material would likely enter the roadway at all fourteen sites. ABA test results indicate that influence of significant acid-producing potential is generally confined to slaty rocks of the Anakeesta Formation and graphitic schist of the Wehutty Formation. The research illustrates an approach for prioritizing areas for site-specific investigations towards the goal of improving safety in GRSM. These results can help park officials develop mitigation strategies for rockfall, using strategies such as widening ditches and encapsulating acidic rockfall material.