Earth and Planetary Sciences (all); General Earth and Planetary Sciences
Abstract :
[en] The movement of large, slow-moving, deep-seated landslides is regulated principally by changes in pore-water pressure in the slope. In urban areas, drastic reorganization of the surface and subsurface hydrology—for example, associated with roads, housings or storm drainage—may alter the subsurface hydrology and ultimately the slope stability. Yet our understanding of the influence of slope urbanization on the dynamics of landslides remains elusive. Here we combined satellite and (historical) aerial images to quantify how 70 years of hillslope urbanization changed the seasonal, annual and multi-decadal dynamics of a large, slow-moving landslide located in the tropical environment of the city of Bukavu, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Analysis of week-to-week landslide motion over the past 4.5 years reveals that it is closely tied to pore-water pressure changes, pointing to interacting influences from climate, weathering, tectonics and urban development on the landslide dynamics. Over decadal timescales, we find that the sprawl of urbanized areas led to the acceleration of a large section of the landslide, which was probably driven by self-reinforcing feedbacks involving slope movement, rerouting of surface water flows and pipe ruptures. As hillslopes in many tropical cities are being urbanized at an accelerating pace, better understanding how anthropogenic activity influences surface processes will be vital to effective risk planning and mitigation.
Research center :
CSL - Centre Spatial de Liège - ULiège [BE]
Disciplines :
Earth sciences & physical geography
Author, co-author :
Dille, Antoine ; Department of Earth Sciences, Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium ; Department of Geography, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium ; Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Operational Directorate Natural Environment, Brussels, Belgium
Dewitte, Olivier ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de mathématique > Didactique des sciences mathématiques ; Department of Earth Sciences, Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium
Handwerger, Alexander L. ; Joint Institute for Regional Earth System Science and Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, United States ; Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, United States
d’Oreye, Nicolas; European Centre for Geodynamics and Seismology, Walferdange, Luxembourg ; National Museum of Natural History, Luxembourg, Luxembourg
De Rauw, Dominique ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Centres généraux > CSL (Centre Spatial de Liège) ; European Centre for Geodynamics and Seismology, Walferdange, Luxembourg ; Instituto de Investigación en Paleobiología y Geología, Universidad Nacional de Rio Negro—CONICET, Río Negro, Argentina
Ganza Bamulezi, Gloire; Département de Géologie, Université Officielle de Bukavu, Bukavu, Congo ; Département de Géologie, Service Géologique National du Congo, Kinshasa, Congo
Ilombe Mawe, Guy ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Sphères ; Département de Géologie, Université Officielle de Bukavu, Bukavu, Congo
Michellier, Caroline ; Department of Earth Sciences, Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium
Moeyersons, Jan; Department of Earth Sciences, Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium
Monsieurs, Elise ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de géographie > Unité de géographie physique et quaternaire (UGPQ) ; Department of Earth Sciences, Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium
Mugaruka Bibentyo, Toussaint ; Department of Earth Sciences, Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium ; Département de Géologie, Université Officielle de Bukavu, Bukavu, Congo ; Department of Geology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
Samsonov, Sergey ; Canada Centre for Mapping and Earth Observation, Natural Resources Canada, Ottawa, Canada
Smets, Benoît; Department of Earth Sciences, Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium ; Department of Geography, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
Kervyn, Matthieu; Department of Geography, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
Kervyn, François; Department of Earth Sciences, Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium
BELSPO - Belgian Science Policy Office [BE] FNR - Luxembourg National Research Fund [LU]
Funding text :
This article is a contribution in the framework of the projects RESIST funded by the Belgian Science Policy (BELSPO), Belgium (SR/00/305) and the Fonds National de la Recherche, Luxembourg (INTER/STEREOIII/13/05/RESIST/d’Oreye); MODUS (SR/00/358), AfReSlide (BR/ 121/A2/AfReSlide) and PAStECA (BR/165/A3/PASTECA) research projects funded by BELSPO and RA_S1_RGL_GEORISK and HARISSA funded by Development Cooperation programme of the Royal Museum for Central Africa, which is supported directly by the Directorate-General Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid of Belgium. E.M. benefited from an F.R.S.–FNRS PhD scholarship. Part of this research was performed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (80NM0018D0004). COSMO-SkyMed images were acquired through RESIST and MODUS projects as well as the CEOS Landslide Pilot. The images are under an Italian Space Agency (ASI) licence. Special thanks go to Université Officielle de Bukavu, and particularly to the members of the Department of Geology. Together with the support of the Civil Protection of South Kivu, they made it possible to execute fieldwork in the study area and provided crucial help for the dGNSS acquisition campaigns and the many discussions on landslide processes in the area. We thank D. Delvaux for sharing field pictures and discussions on the tectonics and geology of the area. We further thank G. Bennett, P. Gonzalez, J.-P. Malet and M. Rutzinger for their insightful discussions and recommendation regarding this research.This article is a contribution in the framework of the projects RESIST funded by the Belgian Science Policy (BELSPO), Belgium (SR/00/305) and the Fonds National de la Recherche, Luxembourg (INTER/STEREOIII/13/05/RESIST/d’Oreye); MODUS (SR/00/358), AfReSlide (BR/ 121/A2/AfReSlide) and PAStECA (BR/165/A3/PASTECA) research projects funded by BELSPO and RA_S1_RGL_GEORISK and HARISSA funded by Development Cooperation programme of the Royal Museum for Central Africa, which is supported directly by the Directorate-General Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid of Belgium. E.M. benefited from an F.R.S.–FNRS PhD scholarship. Part of this research was performed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (80NM0018D0004). COSMO-SkyMed images were acquired through RESIST and MODUS projects as well as the CEOS Landslide Pilot. The images are under an Italian Space Agency (ASI) licence. Special thanks go to Université Officielle de Bukavu, and particularly to the members of the Department of Geology. Together with the support of the Civil Protection of South Kivu, they made it possible to execute fieldwork in the study area and provided crucial help for the dGNSS acquisition campaigns and the many discussions on landslide processes in the area. We thank D. Delvaux for sharing field pictures and discussions on the tectonics and geology of the area. We further thank G. Bennett, P. Gonzalez, J.-P. Malet and M. Rutzinger for their insightful discussions and recommendation regarding this research.
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