[en] Origins of ancient rockslides in seismic regions can be controversial and must not necessarily be seismic. Certain slope morphologies hint at a possible co-seismic development, though further analyses are required to better comprehend their failure history, such as modelling the slope in its pre-failure state and failure development in static and dynamic conditions. To this effect, a geophysical characterisation of the landslide body is crucial to estimate the possible failure history of the slope. The Balta rockslide analysed in this paper is located in the seismic region of Vrancea-Buzau, Romanian Carpathian Mountains, and presents a deep detachment scarp as well as a massive body of landslide deposits. We applied several geophysical techniques on the landslide body, as well as on the mountain crest above the detachment scarp, in order to characterise the fractured rock material as well as the dimension of failure. Electrical resistivity measurements revealed a possible trend of increasing fragmentation of rockslide material towards the valley bottom, accompanied by increasing soil moisture. Several seismic refraction surveys were performed on the deposits and analysed in form of P-wave refraction tomographies as well as surface waves, allowing to quantify elastic parameters of rock. In addition, a seismic array was installed close to the detachment scarp to analyse the surface wave dispersion properties from seismic ambient noise; the latter was analysed together with a co-located active surface wave analysis survey. Single-station ambient noise measurements completed all over the slope and deposits were used to further reveal impedance contrasts of the fragmented material over in-situ rock, representing an important parameter to estimate the depth of the shearing horizon at several locations of the study area. The combined methods allowed the detection of a profound contrast of 70-90 m, supposedly associated with the maximum landslide material thickness. The entirety of geophysical results was used as basis to build up a geomodel of the rockslide, allowing to estimate the geometry and volume of the failed mass, i.e., approximately 28.5-33.5 million m3.
Disciplines :
Earth sciences & physical geography
Author, co-author :
Mreyen, Anne-Sophie ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de géologie > Géologie de l'environnement
Cauchie, Léna ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de géologie > Géologie de l'environnement
Micu, Mihai
Onaca, Alexandru
Havenith, Hans-Balder ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de géologie > Géologie de l'environnement
Language :
English
Title :
Multiple geophysical investigations to characterise massive slope failure deposits: application to the Balta rockslide, Carpathians
Publication date :
21 January 2021
Journal title :
Geophysical Journal International
ISSN :
0956-540X
Publisher :
Geological Society by Blackwell Scientific, United Kingdom
Peer reviewed :
Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi
Funders :
FRIA - Fonds pour la Formation à la Recherche dans l'Industrie et dans l'Agriculture F.R.S.-FNRS - Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique
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