Anticipating an imminent large rock slope failure at the Hochvogel (Allgäu Alps)

Leinauer, Johannes; Jacobs, Benjamin W.; Krautblatter, Michael

doi:10.1002/geot.202000027

Cited by 10 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 10 publications

(14 reference statements)

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“…The total unstable volume sums up to 260,000 m 3 above a distinct 1 m thick marly layer (Fig. 2a-A, Leinauer et al (2020)). Including a potentially unstable mass below, the total volume reaches 400,000-600,000 m 3 .…”

Section: Study Site and Instrumentationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…has been under comprehensive monitoring since 2018/19 (Leinauer et al, 2021;Dietze et al, 2021), including observation of crack opening, temperature, rain and seismic signals. A detailed description can be found in Leinauer et al (2020). In this study, we exploit several high-resolution data from between October 2018 and November 2022.…”

Section: Study Site and Instrumentationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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How water, temperature and seismicity control the preparation of massive rock slope failure (Hochvogel, DE/AT)

Leinauer,

Dietze,

Knapp

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Abstract. The increasing hazard of major rock slope failures, exacerbated by climate change, underscores the importance of anticipating pre-failure process dynamics. While standard triggers are recognized for small rockfalls, few comprehensive driver quantifications exist for massive pre-failure rock slopes. Here we exploit >4 years multi-method high-resolution monitoring data from a well-prepared high-magnitude rock slope instability. To quantify and understand the effect of possible drivers – water from rain and snowmelt, internal rock fracturing and earthquakes – we correlate slope displacements with environmental data, local seismic recordings and earthquake catalogues. During the snowmelt phase, displacements are controlled by meltwater infiltration with high correlation and a time lag of 4–9 days. During the snow-free summer, rainfall drives the system with a time lag of 1–16 h for up to several days without a minimum activation rain sum threshold. Detected rock fracturing, linked to temperature and freeze-thaw cycles, is predominantly surface-near and unrelated to displacement rates. A classic Newmark analysis of recent and historic earthquakes indicates a low potential for immediate triggering of a major failure at the case site, unless it is already very close to failure. Seismic topographic amplification of the peak ground velocity at the summit ranges from a factor of 2–11 and is spatially heterogeneous, indicating a high criticality of the slope. The presented methodological approach enables a comprehensive rockfall driver evaluation and indicates where future climatic changes, e.g. in precipitation intensity and frequency, may alter the preparation of major rock slope failures.

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Section: Study Site and Instrumentationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Study Site and Instrumentationmentioning

confidence: 99%

How water, temperature and seismicity control the preparation of massive rock slope failure (Hochvogel, DE/AT)

Leinauer,

Dietze,

Knapp

et al. 2024

Preprint

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show abstract

“…The rock mass is tectonically stressed and highly weathered. A meter-size fracture at the summit poses a catastrophic rock failure scenario (Leinauer et al, 2020(Leinauer et al, , 2021 directly impacting the Weittal valley (Figure 1).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Massive sediment pulses triggered by a multi-stage alpine cliff fall (Hochvogel, DE/AT)

Barbosa

Leinauer

Jubanski

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Abstract. Massive sediment pulses in catchments are a key alpine multi-risk component. Substantial sediment redistribution in alpine catchments frequently causes flooding, river erosion, and landsliding, and affects infrastructure such as dam reservoirs as well as aquatic ecosystems and water quality. While systematic rock slope failure inventories have been collected in several countries, the subsequent cascading sediment redistribution is virtually unaccessed. This contribution reports for the first time the massive sediment redistribution triggered by the multi-stage failure of more than 150,000 m3 from the Hochvogel dolomite peak during the summer of 2016. We applied change detection techniques on seven 3D-coregistered high-resolution true-orthophotos and digital surface models (DSM) obtained through digital aerial photogrammetry later optimized for precise volume calculation in steep terrain. The analysis of seismic information from surrounding stations revealed the temporal evolution of the cliff fall. We identified the proportional contribution of > 600 rockfall events (>1 m3) from 4 rock slope catchments with different aspects and their volume estimates. In a sediment cascade approach, we evaluated erosion, transport, and deposition from the rockface to the upper channelized erosive debris flow channel, then to the widened dispersive debris flow channel, and finally to the outlet into the braided sediment-supercharged Jochbach river. We observe the decadal flux of more than 400,000 m3 of sediment with massive sediment pulses that (i) respond with reaction times of 0–4 years and relaxation times beyond 10 years, (ii) with faster response times of 0–2 years in the upper catchment and more than 2 years response times in the lower catchments, (iii) the inversion of sedimentary (102–103 mm/a) to massive erosive regimes (102 mm/a) within single years and the (iv) dependency of redistribution to rainfall frequency and intensity. This study provides generic information on spatial and temporal patterns of massive sediment pulses in highly-charged alpine catchments.

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“…The main fissure opens up by several millimetres per month and to date already extend over a length of about 35 m in the SW-NE direction and is gaping more than 5 m at its widest points. Besides, there are several smaller fissures showing high opening rates as well and making the modelling of the failure process more complicated (Leinauer et al, 2020).…”

Section: A Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Including virtual target points from laser scanning into the point-wise rigorous deformation analysis at geo-monitoring applications

Raffl

Holst

2022

Proceedings of the 5th Joint International Symposium on Deformation Monitoring - JISDM 2022

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We present a method to include virtual target points from laser scanning into the point-based rigorous deformation analysis to derive precise 3D deformation vectors. This method overcomes the challenge of missing point identities in laser scans and is developed especially for geo-monitoring applications that demand an early identification of deformations at previously unknown positions. Our approach is based on virtual targets represented by local scan patches. Each patch is matched between overlapping stations and across different measurement epochs using the Iterative Closest Point Algorithm (ICP). Thus, similar to feature points, a number of homologous points is created and polar pseudo-observations are derived. This allows to integrate the observations into a free network adjustment and into a rigorous deformation analysis. We apply this method to the geo-monitoring of rock surfaces on Mt. Hochvogel where we use a scanning total station combining point-wise measurements to signalized targets and pseudo-observations derived from area-wise laser scans. In our application, numerous virtual target points could be created throughout the deformation object. The results show that the new method improves the accuracy and reliability of the subsequent rigorous deformation analysis and it, thus, allows for an early identification of deformations at geo-monitoring applications. Still there is some improvement in the selection of suitable patches needed, as the matching accuracy of the ICP strongly depends on the point distribution within the patches.

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Anticipating an imminent large rock slope failure at the Hochvogel (Allgäu Alps)

Cited by 10 publications

References 10 publications

How water, temperature and seismicity control the preparation of massive rock slope failure (Hochvogel, DE/AT)

How water, temperature and seismicity control the preparation of massive rock slope failure (Hochvogel, DE/AT)

Massive sediment pulses triggered by a multi-stage alpine cliff fall (Hochvogel, DE/AT)

Including virtual target points from laser scanning into the point-wise rigorous deformation analysis at geo-monitoring applications

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