On capillary barrier effects and debris slide triggering in unsaturated layered covers

Mancarella, D.; Doglioni, Angelo; Simeone, Vincenzo

doi:10.1016/j.enggeo.2012.07.003

Cited by 61 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…This mostly depends on the delayed and decreasing effects of infiltration with depth. However, an additional role is played by pumice layers that cut the D r a f t downward flow especially when they are far from saturation (Olivares and Tommasi 2008;Mancarella et al 2012). Indeed, as indicated by the measurements of the TDR probe S2-3, at 0.3 m below the ground surface (nest 2), the water content of pumices rarely approaches 0.30 ( Figure 5).…”

Section: Long-term Hydrological Responsementioning

confidence: 96%

Field hydrological monitoring of a sloping shallow pyroclastic deposit

et al. 2016

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Many mountainous areas in Campania, southern Italy, are characterized by steep slopes covered by unsaturated volcanic deposits. Shallow landslides are frequently triggered by intense and persistent rainfall events, often turning into debris flows that cause huge damage and casualties. Field hydrological monitoring is a useful tool to develop consistent models of slope response to rainfall, in terms of soil suction and moisture, and to define landslide triggering conditions. This is one of the reasons why since 2002 field monitoring is being carried out in Cervinara, around 50 km northeast of Naples. Since October 2009, rainfall height, soil suction and water content at several locations and depths along the slope are automatically being monitored. The data collected help to demonstrate the effectiveness of such a system for better understanding the hydrological processes occurring in similar slopes of Campania, allowing to distinguish between seasonal suction fluctuations, related to long-term meteorological forcing, and short-term response to rainstorms.

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Section: Long-term Hydrological Responsementioning

confidence: 96%

Field hydrological monitoring of a sloping shallow pyroclastic deposit

et al. 2016

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“…There is a widespread consensus that high-intensity, shortduration rainfall is the primary trigger of debris flows in Alpine environments (e.g. Berti et al, 1999;Marchi et al, 2002;McArdell et al, 2007;McCoy et al, 2012;Kean et al, 2013), while longer-duration precipitation is of minor but not negligible importance (e.g. Moser and Hohensinn, 1983;Stoffel et al, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The temporally varying roles of rainfall, snowmelt and soil moisture for debris flow initiation in a snow-dominated system

Mostbauer

Kaitna

Prenner

et al. 2018

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. Debris flows represent frequent hazards in mountain regions. Though significant effort has been made to predict such events, the trigger conditions as well as the hydrologic disposition of a watershed at the time of debris flow occurrence are not well understood. Traditional intensity-duration threshold techniques to establish trigger conditions generally do not account for distinct influences of rainfall, snowmelt, and antecedent moisture. To improve our knowledge on the connection between debris flow initiation and the hydrologic system at a regional scale, this study explores the use of a semi-distributed conceptual rainfall–runoff model, linking different system variables such as soil moisture, snowmelt, or runoff with documented debris flow events in the inner Pitztal watershed, Austria. The model was run on a daily basis between 1953 and 2012. Analysing a range of modelled system state and flux variables at days on which debris flows occurred, three distinct dominant trigger mechanisms could be clearly identified. While the results suggest that for 68 % (17 out of 25) of the observed debris flow events during the study period high-intensity rainfall was the dominant trigger, snowmelt was identified as the dominant trigger for 24 % (6 out of 25) of the observed debris flow events. In addition, 8 % (2 out of 25) of the debris flow events could be attributed to the combined effects of low-intensity, long-lasting rainfall and transient storage of this water, causing elevated antecedent soil moisture conditions. The results also suggest a relatively clear temporal separation between the distinct trigger mechanisms, with high-intensity rainfall as a trigger being limited to mid- and late summer. The dominant trigger in late spring/early summer is snowmelt. Based on the discrimination between different modelled system states and fluxes and, more specifically, their temporally varying importance relative to each other, this exploratory study demonstrates that already the use of a relatively simple hydrological model can prove useful to gain some more insight into the importance of distinct debris flow trigger mechanisms. This highlights in particular the relevance of snowmelt contributions and the switch between mechanisms during early to mid-summer in snow-dominated systems.

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“…Setting a barrier is an effective measure of controlling the process of debris flow. Based on the simulation and experiments, many scholars (Mancarella et al 2012;Brighenti et al 2013) discussed the barrier's effect on debris flow evolution. Salciarini et al (2010) used the discrete element method to assess the effectiveness of earthfill barriers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Salciarini et al (2010) used the discrete element method to assess the effectiveness of earthfill barriers. Mancarella et al (2012) studied barrier effects and their possible role in infiltration processes and slope stability. They have found that debris flow was separated when it went through a barrier, and the barrier's position and rotation angle could change the deposition areas.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental study on slope sliding and debris flow evolution with and without barrier

Zhao

Wang

Chen

2015

Water Science and Engineering

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A constitutive model on the evolution of debris flow with and without a barrier was established based on the theory of the Bingham model. A certain area of the Laoshan Mountain in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, in China was chosen for experimental study, and the slope sliding and debris flow detection system was utilized. The change curve of the soil moisture content was attained, demonstrating that the moisture content of the shallow soil layer increases faster than that of the deep soil layer, and that the growth rate of the soil moisture content of the steep slope is large under the first weak rainfall, and that of the gentle slope is significantly affected by the second heavy rainfall. For the steep slope, slope sliding first occurs on the upper slope surface under heavy rainfall and further develops along the top platform and lower slope surface, while under weak rainfall the soil moisture content at the lower part of the slope first increases because of the high runoff velocity, meaning that failure occurring there is more serious. When a barrier was placed at a high position on a slope, debris flow was separated and distributed early and had less ability to carry solids, and the variation of the greatest depth of erosion pits on soil slopes was not significant.

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On capillary barrier effects and debris slide triggering in unsaturated layered covers

Cited by 61 publications

References 33 publications

Field hydrological monitoring of a sloping shallow pyroclastic deposit

Field hydrological monitoring of a sloping shallow pyroclastic deposit

The temporally varying roles of rainfall, snowmelt and soil moisture for debris flow initiation in a snow-dominated system

Experimental study on slope sliding and debris flow evolution with and without barrier

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