Geoelectrical monitoring: an innovative method to supplement landslide surveillance and early warning

Abstract

Permanent geoelectrical monitoring, using the GEOMON 4D instrumentation in combination with high resolution displacement monitoring by means of the D.M.S. system, was performed at two active landslide areas: Ampflwang/Hausruck in Austria, and Bagnaschino in Italy. These sites are part of the Austrian geoelectrical monitoring network, which currently comprises six permanently monitored landslides in Europe. Within the observation intervals, several displacement events, triggered by intense precipitation, were monitored and analysed. All of these events were preceded by a decrease of electric resistivity. The application of an innovative 4D inversion algorithm made it possible to investigate the potential processes which led to the triggering of these events. We conclude that resistivity monitoring can significantly help in the investigation of the causes of landslide reactivation. Since the results also contribute to the extrapolation of local displacement monitoring data to a larger scale, resistivity monitoring can definitely support decision-finding in emergencies.techniques, long-term continuous monitoring of deformation and triggering factors and by establishing early-warning systems/centres. The most commonly used early-warning parameters are pore pressure and displacement. However, recent research has shown that other parameters exist, which might give indications of impending triggering before an actual displacement is measurable.The geoelectrical method (direct current DC) has recently been established as a routine geophysical method to investigate subsurface geometry and structural pattern of landslides in Europe (Mauritsch et al.

Investigation on the Role of Water for the Stability of Shallow Landslides—Insights from Experimental Tests

“…Geophysical methods have been commonly used to assess the stability of slopes and embankments [27][28][29][30]. In particular, electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) has shown to be efficient in monitoring the variations of water saturation and detecting seepage zones for a variety of studies focused on hydrogeological issues (e.g., [31][32][33][34][35]). In order to obtain a better view of the processes leading to collapse, several experiments featured electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) measurements.…”

Landslide activation behaviour illuminated by electrical resistance monitoring

“…Examples include short-term studies using electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) to intensively monitor simulated rainfall events on vulnerable slopes to determine subsurface moisture variation in controlled conditions (Travelletti et al, 2012;Lehmann et al, 2013). Studies using ERT to monitor landsliding under natural conditions over a period of months have revealed the link between subsurface moisture distribution and rainfall, and demonstrated the ability of this approach to observe dynamic and complex hydrogeological processes in landslide systems (Lebourg et al, 2005(Lebourg et al, , 2010Jomard et al, 2007;Bièvre et al, 2012;Supper et al, 2014;Gance et al, 2016). Longer term multi-year studies have also been described.…”

4D inversion of time-lapse magnetotelluric data sets for monitoring geothermal reservoir

“…The applications and benefits of this algorithm have been demonstrated in several studies: monitoring of nonaqueous phase liquid (DNAPL) dynamics (Power et al, 2014(Power et al, , 2015 and investigation of the causes of landslide reactivation (Supper et al, 2014).…”