Integrated Approaches with Seismic Techniques to Investigate Landslide Areas

A special issue of Geosciences (ISSN 2076-3263). This special issue belongs to the section "Geomechanics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2024 | Viewed by 2112

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
ANSFISA National Agency for the Safety of Railways and Road and Motorway Infrastructures, P.Le dell’Industria 20, 00144 Rome, Italy
Interests: engineering geology; applied geophysics; landslide; local seismic response

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Department of Earth Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome and CERI—Research Centre for Geological Risks, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
Interests: engineering geology; natural hazards; landslide; local seismic response; numerical modelling
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Department of Geosciences, University of Malta, MSD2080 Msida, Malta
Interests: applied geophysics; geomatics; remote sensing

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Landslides are a major natural hazard that cause significant human and economic losses worldwide. Over recent decades, significant efforts have been made by the scientific community to develop tools that are able to manage landslide processes which threaten human settlements, strategic infrastructure or cultural heritage. Several state-of-the-art publications on landslides are based on the application of integrated approaches that apply seismic techniques coupled with other geophysical and engineering geological methods. In general, seismic methods are applied to landslides for two main purposes: (i) to characterise landslide-associated material properties and (ii) to monitor the evolution of the gravity-induced instability process. The approaches for the former use passive and active seismic techniques, taking advantage of the different physical and mechanical properties of the slope portion involved in the landslide process compared to the stable areas, and derive useful parameters for identifying areas that are prone to gravity-induced instability, as well as contributing to the evaluation of slope stability conditions. Approaching the latter aim involves the use of specific methods based on the recording and analysis of the vibrational signals that are generated by the unstable slope portion during the evolution of the landslide process in order to recognise the precursors of an incoming failure. In both cases, the integration of seismic techniques with other investigation and monitoring methods is fundamental to obtaining reliable results.

In light of this, the Geosciences Special Issue, “Integrated Approaches with Seismic Techniques to Investigate Landslide Areas”, encourages the submission of high-quality publications concerning landslide monitoring and characterisation through integrated approaches using seismic techniques. Papers in the fields of applied geophysics, applied seismology, engineering geology and geotechnics that propose innovative approaches for monitoring or investigating landslides, as well as results from relevant case studies, are welcome.

Kind regards,

Dr. Roberto Iannucci
Prof. Dr. Salvatore Martino
Dr. Emanuele Colica
Dr. Sebastiano D’Amico
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • landslides
  • applied geophysics
  • applied seismology
  • engineering geology
  • geotechnics
  • landslide monitoring
  • landslide characterisation
  • seismic monitoring
  • seismic investigations
  • site effects

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

19 pages, 24660 KiB  
Article
Engineering Geological and Geophysical Investigations to Characterise the Unstable Rock Slope of the Sopu Promontory (Gozo, Malta)
by Davide Pistillo, Emanuele Colica, Sebastiano D’Amico, Daniela Farrugia, Federico Feliziani, Luciano Galone, Roberto Iannucci and Salvatore Martino
Geosciences 2024, 14(2), 39; https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences14020039 - 01 Feb 2024
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Abstract
Different engineering geological and geophysical investigations were performed at the Sopu promontory in the island of Gozo (Malta), involved in an impressive lateral spreading process due to the superimposition of a stiff limestone (ULC) on a ductile clay (BC). The applied techniques include: [...] Read more.
Different engineering geological and geophysical investigations were performed at the Sopu promontory in the island of Gozo (Malta), involved in an impressive lateral spreading process due to the superimposition of a stiff limestone (ULC) on a ductile clay (BC). The applied techniques include: traditional geological and engineering geological surveys, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) survey, electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) survey, ground-penetrating radar (GPR) investigations, single-station seismic ambient noise measurements, and array seismic ambient noise measurements. The integration of the obtained results allowed us to reconstruct a subsoil model of the promontory that includes features related to the local geology of the slope and to the landslide process, as well as to define a conceptual model that describes the main evolution phases of the expansion process. The presence of back-tilted rock blocks with no features of polarization of Rayleigh waves evidenced the different failure mechanism of the rigid UCL plateau at the Sopu promontory with respect to the Selmun promontory, located in the close island of Malta, where the lateral spreading due to the same geological setting tends to produce unstable rock blocks with a toppling mechanism. This result encourages further future observations and analyses of this topic. Full article
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