Dynamics of the Bingham Canyon rock avalanches (Utah, USA) resolved from topographic, seismic, and infrasound data

Moore, Jeffrey R.; Pankow, K. L.; Ford, S. R.; Koper, Keith D.; Hale, J. Mark; Aaron, Jordan; Larsen, C. F.

doi:10.1002/2016jf004036

Cited by 38 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…Seismic broadband observations of such events allow us to invert for the 3-D landslide force history and time-dependent center of mass position and -in combination with topography data -enable seismologists to fully describe a mass wasting event from remote (hundreds to thousands of kilometers of distance) observations. Such observations have revealed scaling laws that link seismic observables to the mass and momentum of massive landslides (Ekström and Stark, 2013), help to constrain numerical models of landslides (Moretti et al, 2012(Moretti et al, , 2015, and support observations of frictional weakening during sliding events (Lucas et al, 2014;Levy et al, 2015;Delannay et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 55%

Seismic detection of rockslides at regional scale: examples from the Eastern Alps and feasibility of kurtosis-based event location

2018

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Abstract. Seismic records can provide detailed insight into the mechanisms of gravitational mass movements. Catastrophic events that generate long-period seismic radiation have been studied in detail, and monitoring systems have been developed for applications on a very local scale. Here we demonstrate that similar techniques can also be applied to regional seismic networks, which show great potential for real-time and large-scale monitoring and analysis of rockslide activity. This paper studies 19 moderate-sized to large rockslides in the Eastern Alps that were recorded by regional seismic networks within distances of a few tens of kilometers to more than 200 km. We develop a simple and fully automatic processing chain that detects, locates, and classifies rockslides based on vertical-component seismic records. We show that a kurtosis-based onset picker is suitable to detect the very emergent onsets of rockslide signals and to locate the rockslides within a few kilometers from the true origin using a grid search and a 1-D seismic velocity model. Automatic discrimination between rockslides and local earthquakes is possible by a combination of characteristic parameters extracted from the seismic records, such as kurtosis or maximum-to-mean amplitude ratios. We attempt to relate the amplitude of the seismic records to the documented rockslide volume and reveal a potential power law in agreement with earlier studies. Since our approach is based on simplified methods we suggest and discuss how each step of the automatic processing could be expanded and improved to achieve more detailed results in the future.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 55%

Seismic detection of rockslides at regional scale: examples from the Eastern Alps and feasibility of kurtosis-based event location

2018

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“…Alternatively, the smaller event(s) could trigger the larger event if the stress perturbation is sufficiently destabilizing. Smaller collapses that decay in number over time can follow a large event, akin to earthquake aftershocks (e.g., Allstadt et al, 2017;Moore et al, 2017), which may reflect the adjustment of the slope to the new stress configuration.…”

Section: Recurrence and Time Clusteringmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While the single-force approximation can still be useful, these factors complicate the interpretation (Allstadt, 2013b;Moretti et al, 2015;Coe et al, 2016). Singleforce inversions can be used to roughly estimate mass and trajectory for simple landslides (Ekström and Stark, 2013;Yamada et al, 2013;Hibert et al, 2014a;Schöpa et al, 2018), to understand the sequence of events (e.g., Allstadt, 2013b;Iverson et al, 2015;Moore et al, 2017), to extract quantitative information such as velocity and basal friction (Brodsky et al, 2003;Moretti et al, 2012;Yamada et al, 2013), and to constrain numerical landslide models (Favreau et al, 2010;Moretti et al, 2015;.…”

Section: Source Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Seismic and acoustic signatures of surficial mass movements at volcanoes

Allstadt

Matoza

Lockhart

et al. 2018

Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research

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Surficial mass movements, such as debris avalanches, rock falls, lahars, pyroclastic flows, and outburst floods, are a dominant hazard at many volcanoes worldwide. Understanding these processes, cataloging their spatio-temporal occurrence, and detecting, tracking, and characterizing these events would advance the science of volcano monitoring and help mitigate hazards. Seismic and acoustic methods show promise for achieving these objectives: many surficial mass movements generate observable seismic and acoustic signals, and many volcanoes are already monitored. Significant progress has been made toward understanding, modeling, and extracting quantitative information from seismic and infrasonic signals generated by surficial mass movements. However, much work remains. In this paper, we review the state of the art of the topic, covering a range of scales and event types from individual rock falls to sector collapses. We consider a full variety of volcanic settings, from submarine to subaerial, shield volcano to stratovolcano. Finally, we discuss future directions toward operational seismoacoustic monitoring of surficial mass movements at volcanoes.

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“…The rockslide may displace a few meters or tens of meters (Glueer et al, 2019), disintegrate over a number of hours (Schneider et al, 1993), or transition into a catastrophic, flow-like rock avalanche (Coe et al, 2016). If catastrophic failure occurs, a rockslide may initially slide for a significant distance, translating and rotating over 3D topography, before fragmenting and becoming flow-like (Davies et al, 1999;De Blasio, 2011;Bowman et al, 2012;Aaron and Hungr, 2016b;Moore et al, 2017). have shown that the bulk basal shear strength that acts on the rupture surface of rock avalanches soon after failure appears to be dependent on the volume of the rock avalanche.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding Failure and Runout Mechanisms of the Flims Rockslide/Rock Avalanche

et al. 2020

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The Flims rockslide/rock avalanche (FRRA) is the largest long runout landslide in Europe. This event provides a unique opportunity to study the pre-failure and failure behavior of a large rock slope, as both the source zone and deposit of this event are accessible. In this study, we perform engineering geological and geomorphic field mapping as well as stability and runout modeling in order to explore the preconditioning and triggering factors that resulted in failure of this event, and to infer the mechanisms that governed its runout. By combining these analyses, we qualitatively comment on the mechanisms that lead to the transition from a rockslide to a long runout, catastrophic rock avalanche. Our engineering geological and geomorphic field mapping has revealed that the FRRA failed along a sliding zone that features numerous, large scale steps. Previous work at the site, as well as new analysis of thin sections, has revealed the presence of marl-like layers within the failed stratigraphic unit. Our stability analysis shows that the presence of low strength layers at the depth of the rupture surface is required for failure to initiate, and that failure could be triggered either by strong seismic shaking, elevated pore-water pressures, or a combination of both. The results of the runout analysis show that this event likely remained coherent for a large portion of its motion, and that liquefaction of alluvial sediments at the toe of the slope may have enhanced the runout distance of this rock avalanche. Combining the mapping, stability and runout modeling has shown that the basal shear strength required for the runout analysis is ∼6 •-10 • lower than that back-analyzed for the stability of this event. Thus, a mechanism to reduce strength along the rupture surface immediately following the initial instability was required for catastrophic failure of this event. This mechanism is poorly understood at present, but is likely crucial for understanding the transition from an initially stable slope to a catastrophic, long runout rock avalanche.

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Dynamics of the Bingham Canyon rock avalanches (Utah, USA) resolved from topographic, seismic, and infrasound data

Cited by 38 publications

References 55 publications

Seismic detection of rockslides at regional scale: examples from the Eastern Alps and feasibility of kurtosis-based event location

Seismic detection of rockslides at regional scale: examples from the Eastern Alps and feasibility of kurtosis-based event location

Seismic and acoustic signatures of surficial mass movements at volcanoes

Understanding Failure and Runout Mechanisms of the Flims Rockslide/Rock Avalanche

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