Investigations and monitoring of rock slopes at Checkerboard Creek and Little Chief Slide

Paraglacial rock-slope stability

“…This problem is well illustrated with the detailed monitoring program for a rock slope (Checkerboard Creek) in British Columbia, Canada. It was discovered only after several years of monitoring that regular annual periods of increased displacement were not related to precipitation events as indicated in the first years of monitoring, but were actually caused by seasonal changes in temperature (Watson et al, 2007).…”

Influence of Rock Slide Geometry on Stability Behavior during Reservoir Impounding

“…While clayey-silty fault gouges cause low hydraulic conductivities, sandy-gravelly fault breccias lead to significantly higher conductivities. Thus, a continuous gouge layer within a basal shear zone reaching hydraulic conductivities in the order of 1 × 10 −9 m/s or even less can act as a hydraulic barrier [9,23,27]. According to experience from various case studies in metamorphic rocks, the hydraulic conductivity of the stable bedrock can also vary greatly, but it tends to be less permeable than that of the rock slide mass [27].…”

“…Slope stability reduction resulting from an impounding reservoir may lead to the formation of new deep-seated rock slides or the reactivation and acceleration of pre-existing ones. Numerous case studies document the formation of a new first-time rock slide or the acceleration of a slowly moving deep-seated rock slide as well as the reactivation of an ancient rock slide caused by the operation of a dam reservoir [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. One of the most catastrophic events in this context occurred in Italy in 1963 at the Vajont reservoir, where a rock slide mass with a volume of 280 million m 3 suddenly failed, causing a giant water wave that destroyed many villages, leading to about 2000 fatalities [5].…”

“…One of the most catastrophic events in this context occurred in Italy in 1963 at the Vajont reservoir, where a rock slide mass with a volume of 280 million m 3 suddenly failed, causing a giant water wave that destroyed many villages, leading to about 2000 fatalities [5]. With the exception of such very rare disastrous events, there are numerous cases documented worldwide where pre-existing dormant or very slowly moving rock slides have been reactivated or accelerated by dam reservoir operation [2,3,[6][7][8][9]. Reactivated or accelerated rock slides typically require comprehensive monitoring programs and, in some cases, even the application of stabilization measures, such as the construction of a costly tunnel drainage system.…”

Thermal impact of dykes on ignimbrite and implications for fluid flow channelisation in a caldera

“…Hurwitz 2003;Delcamp et al 2016;Ball et al 2018;Finn et al 2018]; and can be driven by mineral precipitation associated with chemical [Farquharson et al 2019], barometric, or thermal gradients or structural discontinuities such as faults and shear zones [e.g. Watson et al 2007;Árnason 2020]. Dykes are common features in volcanic environments, and dyke intrusion enhances the barometric, chemical, thermal, and structural discontinuity gradients within the volcanic host rock [Senger et al 2017].…”