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.