The Minerva Slides in Rock Model
Steep rock slopes and cliffs can fail under the influence of gravity, often triggered by intense rainfall or earthquakes, and generate slides in rock. Slides in rock are usually very fast, and the failure can occur along planar, curved, and/or multiple surfaces. By mapping the distribution of previous landslides, slope angle, rock types, and other terrain properties, it is possible to identify the slopes more susceptible to slides in rock.
For this study, we define a “slides in rock” model, intended as a conceptual abstraction of a slope described by the properties and the terms that a geoscientist may use to determine which slopes are more likely to fail and generate slides in rock. With slides in rock, we refer to the collective class from the updated Varnes classification (Hungr et al., 2014). It represents all landslides that have as material “rock” and movement type “slide”. It includes rotational, planar, compound, wedge and irregular slides in rock. Table 1 summarizes the properties used to define the slides in rock model, drawn from the scientific literature (Evans and Clague, 1994; Friele, 2012; Guzzetti et al., 2012; Howes and Kenk, 1997; Hungr et al., 2014; Jackson, 2019; Strahler, 1957)
Instance Property-Value-Frequency | Source | Rationale |
has geomorph process -GeneralPeriglacialProcesses-always | Evans and Clague 1994 | Landslides are common in periglacial environment, especially under changing climatic conditions. |
has geomorph process -ErosionalProcess-always | Guzzetti et al., 2012 | Active erosional processes are possible indicator of landslide activity, as landslides occur where landslides have occurred before. |
has geomorph process -MassMovement-always | Guzzetti et al., 2012 | Active mass movement processes are possible indicator of landslide activity, as landslides occur where landslides have occurred before. |
has slope -Very Steep-always | Hungr et al., 2014 | Very Steep slopes are prone to slides |
has slope -Steep-always | Hungr et al., 2014 | Steep slopes are prone to slides |
has slope -Moderately Steep-usually | Hungr et al., 2014 | Moderately steep slopes are prone to slides |
has slope -Moderate-sometimes | Hungr et al., 2014 | Moderate slopes may be prone to slides |
has slope -Gentle-never | Hungr et al., 2014 | Gentle slopes are rarely prone to slides |
has slope -Plain-never | Hungr et al., 2014 | Plain slopes are rarely prone to slides. |
has surficial material -Bedrock-ususally | Hungr et al., 2014 | ‘bedrock’ mapped as surficial material indicates the presence of cliffs and bluffs, possibility prone to rock slides. |
has surficial material -Weathered Bedrock-always | Hungr et al., 2014 | Weather bedrock is more likely to fail than fresh bedrock. |
has weather threshold -Extreme Weather-always | Friele 2012 | Landslides can be triggered by intense rainfall (Segoni et al., 2018) or snowmelt. Rainfall threshold for this study are derived from Friele (2012). |
has weather threshold -Severe Weather-usually | Friele 2012 | Landslides can be triggered by intense rainfall (Segoni et al., 2018) or snowmelt. Rainfall threshold for this study are derived from Friele (2012). |
has weather threshold -Mild Weather-rarely | Friele 2012 | Landslides can be triggered by intense rainfall (Segoni et al., 2018) or snowmelt. Rainfall threshold for this study are derived from Friele (2012). |
has weather threshold -Moderate Weather-sometimes | Friele 2012 | Landslides can be triggered by intense rainfall (Segoni et al., 2018) or snowmelt. Rainfall threshold for this study are derived from Friele (2012). |
has land use -Alpine-always | evans and Clague 1994 | Landslides are common in the Alpine zone, especially under changing climatic conditions |
has land use -SubAlpineAvalancheChutes-always | Hungr et al., 2014 | Rock slides can occur in gullies that are also avalanche tracks |
has stream order -1-always | Strahler 1957 | Stream erosion can affect slope stability |
has stream order -2-always | Strahler 1957 | Stream erosion can affect slope stability |
has stream order -3-always | Strahler 1957 | Stream erosion can affect slope stability |
has stream order -4-usually | Strahler 1957 | Stream erosion can affect slope stability |
has stream order -5-sometimes | Strahler 1957 | Stream erosion can affect slope stability |
has transport line -Road Resource-usually | Jackson 2019 | Logging roads are the greatest aggravating factor for landslide activity as compared to undisturbed slopes (Jackson 2019). |
has transport line -Road Unclassified Or Unknown-usually | Jackson 2019 | Roads are a aggravating factor for landslide activity as compared to undisturbed slopes (Jackson 2019) |
has transport line -Trail-usually | Jackson 2019 | Roads are an aggravating factor for landslide activity as compared to undisturbed slopes (Jackson 2019) |
has transport line -Road Recreation Demographic-sometimes | Jackson 2019 | Roads are an aggravating factor for landslide activity as compared to undisturbed slopes (Jackson 2019) |
has water -Permafrost-always | Jackson 2019 | Landslides are common in periglacial environment, especially under changing climatic conditions. |
has bed rock -metamorphic rock-always | Hungr et al 2014 | Foliated metamorphic rocks are usually weak and prone to failure. |
has corine land cover-Glacier and perpetual snow-always | evans and Clague 1994 | Landslides are common in the Alpine zone, especially under changing climatic conditions. |
has corine land cover-Bare rocks-always | Hunger et al 2014 | Rock outcrops can be steep and prone to landslides |
has corine land cover-Road and rail networks and associated lands-always | Jackson 2019 | Roads and rail increase landslide activity as they are a break in slope where water can accumulate |
has fault -Any Fault-always | Reichenbach et al 2018 | Faults are indicator of weak rocks, and the presence of faults is one of the main parameters considered in landslide susceptibility mapping. |
has landslide type-Rock Fall-usually | Guzzetti et al., 2012 | Landslides are more likely to occur on slopes or valleys that have experienced landslides before (Guzzetti et al., 2012) |
has landslide type-Rock Slope Spread-usually | Guzzetti et al., 2012 | Landslides are more likely to occur on slopes or valleys that have experienced landslides before (Guzzetti et al., 2012) |
has landslide type-Rock topples-usually | Guzzetti et al., 2012 | Landslides are more likely to occur on slopes or valleys that have experienced landslides before (Guzzetti et al., 2012) |
has landslide type-Slides in Rock-always | Guzzetti et al., 2012 | Landslides are more likely to occur on slopes or valleys that have experienced landslides before (Guzzetti et al., 2012) |
has landslide type-Slides in soil-sometimes | Guzzetti et al., 2012 | Note that location must also be considered. In essence, where there is soil, it is less likely that there will be steep slopes, but soil slides are a sign of an unstable slope, and therefore are not explicitly negatively correlated to rock slides |
has landslide type-Slope deformaiton in rock-usually | Guzzetti et al., 2012 | Landslides are more likely to occur on slopes or valleys that have experienced landslides before (Guzzetti et al., 2012) |
has landslide type-Flows in soil-sometimes | Guzzetti et al., 2012 | Where there is soil, it is less likely that there will be steep slopes, and rock slides. But soil slides ARE a sign of an unstable slope, and therefore are not explicitly negatively correlated to rock slides |
has landslide type-Soil Fall-sometimes | Guzzetti et al., 2012 | Where there is soil, it is less likely that there will be steep slopes, and rock slides. But soil slides are a sign of an unstable slope, and therefore are not explicitly negatively correlated to rock slides |
has landslide type-Slope deformation in soil-sometimes | Guzzetti et al., 2012 | Where there is soil, it is less likely that there will be steep slopes, and rock slides. But soil slides are a sign of an unstable slope, and therefore are not explicitly negatively correlated to rock slides |
has landslide type-Soil Topple-sometimes | Guzzetti et al., 2012 | Where there is soil, it is less likely that there will be steep slopes, and rock slides. But soil slides are a sign of an unstable slope, and therefore are not explicitly negatively correlated to rock slides |
has surficial form -cliff-always | Hungr et al 2014 | Cliffs can generate rock slides |
has texture-rubble-Always | Howes and Kenk 1997 | The presence of blocks can be indicator of landslide processes |
has texture-blocks-Always | Howes and Kenk 1997 | The presence of rubble is an indicator of landslide processes. |
has surficial form -Cones-Always | Howes and Kenk 1997 | Cones may be formed by rock slide debris, hence they can be considered an indicator of rockslide activity |
Table 1 The slides in rock Minerva Intelligence model. Model name, property, property value, information source and rationale are shown in the table
References
Evans, S. G. and Clague, J. J.: Recent climatic change and catastrophic geomorphic processes in mountain environments, Geomorphology, 10(1–4), 107–128, doi:10.1016/0169-555X(94)90011-6, 1994.
Friele, P. A.: Volcanic Landslide Risk Management, Lillooet River Valley, BC: Start of north and south FSRs to Meager Confluence, Meager Creek and Upper Lillooet River., 2012.
Guzzetti, F., Mondini, A. C., Cardinali, M., Fiorucci, F., Santangelo, M. and Chang, K. T.: Landslide inventory maps: New tools for an old problem, Earth-Science Rev., 112(1–2), 42–66, doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2012.02.001, 2012.
Howes, D. E. and Kenk, E.: Terrain Classification System for British Columbia., 1997.
Hungr, O., Leroueil, S. and Picarelli, L.: The Varnes classification of landslide types, an update, Landslides, 11(2), 167–194, doi:10.1007/s10346-013-0436-y, 2014.
Jackson, L. E.: Recommendation for adding logging, logging road, wildfire, and morphometric parameters to the soil slide model., 2019. (Download)
Strahler, A. N.: Quantitative Analysis of Watershed Geomorphology, Transactions of the American Geophysical Union., Trans. Am. Geophys. Union, 38(6), 913–920, 1957.