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Between 29 and 30 December 2002 the NW flank of Stromboli Volcano (Sciara del Fuoco) was involved in a series of large-scale instability phenomena which culminated in submarine and subaerial destructive landslides provoking two tsunami waves with a maximum run-up of 10 m. In this paper, part of the results of a joint research between the National Research Council (Italy) and the Disaster Prevention Research Institute of Kyoto University (Japan) are presented. The activity has focused on the mechanical characterization of the volcanoclastic material forming the Sciara del Fuoco depression and the interpretation of landslide mechanisms on the basis of large-scale ring shear tests. Attention is given here to the initiation and propagation of the submarine landslide which caused the first tsunami. In order to investigate the material response to different displacement rates in terms of shear resistance, pore pressure generation and grain crushing, ring shear tests were conducted in both undrained and drained conditions. Experimental results indicate that a fully or partial liquefaction mechanism can be invoked to explain the failure of the submarine flank of the Sciara del Fuoco and the long run-out which followed, as it was suggested by comparing pre- and post-failure in situ observations.

Niigata Region, Japan, is known as that designated landslides are more than 2 000 sites which are the most abundant in Japan, and still now we have experienced with landslides in the mountainous areas in Niigata Region (Yamagishi and Ayalew 2004; Yamagishi et al. 2004). Most of the landslides are deep-seated and taking place on gentle slopes in the Neogene to Pliocene mudstone areas. These triggers are mostly by snow melting. However, on 13 July 2004, heavy rainfalls due to the intensive activities of rain front occurred in the Mid Niigata Region, Japan. They are as much as 400 mm in 24 hours, and brought about serious flooding by breaking the river banks, as well as landslides. The heavy rainfall-triggered landslides are recognized as 3 600 sites. Most of the landslides are shallow seated, but some of them are more or less deep-seated and associated with long-run mudflows. Followed by such heavy rainfalls, the southern region of Mid Niigata Region was attacked by intensive earthquake of 6.8 on Richter scale on 23 October 2004. The main earthquake was followed by intensive and small after-shocks until December 2004. By these earthquakes, many landslides also occurred in the hilly and mountainous areas. These landslides are classified into three types; one is deep-seated slides, the second shallow landslides, the third is flowing slides. Namely, in 2004, Niigata Region has been experienced with different induced landslides which are also different from the used landslides characteristic of Niigata, Japan. Therefore, in this paper, we are describing the distribution and characteristics of the heavy rainfall-induced and the intensive earthquake-induced landslides, and then comparing in features and scales with the different-trigger landslides.

The archaeological site of Tharros in western Sardinia (Italy), of Phoenician-Punic origin, is exposed to different types of landslide hazard. This paper gives a description of the main geological and geomorphological features of the site with special reference to the impact of slope instability on the archaeological heritage.

A study was initiated to classify and predict potential erosion induced landslide locations of occurrence at both well known resort areas of Malaysia namely Fraser Hill and Genting Highlands. The classification was done by determining the soil susceptibility for failure in terms of its soil erodibility index value with regards to the ’ROM’ scale. Soil samples were taken on slopes at every 1 km stretch along the main road leading to both highlands. Concurrently, daily rainfall data of both areas were thoroughly examined to determine the erosive frequency.

From the soil samples analysis, Km 13–14 in Genting Highlands had been identified as the most susceptible location to landslide risk, while for Fraser Hill, Km 4–5 tops the ranking. The analyzed rainfall data however, had shown that the rainfall risk frequency is at the highest risk in the month of November and September for both Genting Highlands and Fraser Hill respectively.

Landslides in fine-grained permafrost soils have been paid much less attention compared to those in temperate regions. The lack of attention paid to those landslides can be attributed to their remote locations and relatively lower social and economic impacts. With recently increased interest and activities in the northern regions, especially from the energy sector, there is an increased need for better understanding of landslides in such regions. This paper describes some geotechnical field observations from a number of landslide sites recently visited in northern Canada. Evidence collected from the landslide sites provides valuable information for understanding the failure mechanisms and for further investigations. The information described includes: locations and orientations of the landslides, the slope and slide geometries, typical surface and subsurface material conditions, landslide flow phenomena, evidence of active layers (soils subject to annual freeze-thaw cycles), rate of head scarp surface ablation, and conditions of surface vegetation. Possible mechanisms triggering the landslides are discussed based on the evidence observed in the field. Landslide processes and stabilizing mechanisms are also discussed. Extreme weather conditions may have played a major role in one region with few or no trees, while forest fire may have been a dominant factor in another region with dense trees. The inherent characteristics of the slopes are also critical to the slope stability, for example, slope angle, thickness and strength of the active layer, soil moisture and ice contents, the insulating effect of the surface organic mat, and the reinforcing effect of roots. While changes in thermal regime are critical to slope stability in permafrost, the shear strength of the active layer can be a major contributor to slope stability under given thermal conditions. The paper discusses several aspects that are worth attention for further studies.

Lalibela is located in the northern-central part of Ethiopia, approx. 600 km north of Addis Ababa in Northern Wollo, one of the most structural food deficit areas of the Amhara Region. The town, which has about 12000 inhabitants, is situated at an altitude of 2500 m (Fig. 26.1). In its center, a unique complex of 11 rock-hewn Christian Orthodox churches is loacted. The churches were cut out of the living rock some 800 years ago during the kingdom of King Lalibela (1167–1207) of the Zagwe dynasty. One of these churches, Biet Aba Libanos, is a monolithic church anchored to the rock from which it was carved. Two major damaging phenomena affect the church: weathering of volcanic tuff in the lower part of the edifice and sliding of the façade and lateral walls, as consequence of a prone discontinuity. A first destruction of the façade was already occurred in the past, as consequence of an old planar sliding, still in coincidence of the same joint. Presently, the walls prone to slide are the structures constructed to replace the original rock that collapsed during the slide as well as some of the original rock hewn lateral walls. Kinematical analysis and numerical modeling implemented, clearly evidence the hazardous conditions of the rock hewn church of Biet Aba Libanos and the need of a prompt and proper intervention.

Various investigations on tectonically-induced landslides in Shikoku in west Japan have been carried out, most of which conclude at tectonic activities through the major fault lines and enhanced rock mineral decomposition as being mainly responsible for the landslide occurrence. Little work is found, however, on the mechanism of their creep activation and role played by the expansive clay minerals. This paper aims at looking into strength parameters of the landslide clays from mineralogical point of view. In addition, the strength behavior is analyzed from inclusion of weaker clay minerals such as smectites. It is found that the drop from peak to residual friction angles for the tested samples reaches as high as 20°. In addition, the residual strength of the landslide clays was found to decrease with higher amount of expansive clay minerals, which was estimated as being relative to chlorite mineral from the XRD patterns. Moreover, the presence of non-crystalline clay materials was found to considerably lower the friction angles of the landslide soils.

During the second half of the twentieth century, and due to major advances in science and technology, industrial risk assessment studies became a must for any new/running industry. On the contrary, natural and environmental risk assessment studies lagged behind until the last two decades of the twentieth century. This chapter demonstrates a methodological approach for the assessment of natural hazards/risks (specifically landslides and block movements), with an application to the Tomb of Ramsis I at the Valley of the Kings, Egypt. The authors were able to develop this approach using different techniques of mathematical reasoning under certainty, and chose the fuzzy logic as the best applicable one. A comparison has been done with other “classical” methods of reasoning such as the probabilistic approach.

Systematic studies of landslides in Nicaragua started only after the disastrous impact of Hurricane Mitch at the end of October 1998, which caused widespread and devastating slope failures. An attempt to collect, integrate and analyze historical data is made in order to improve the current information on landslides. In the period between 1570 and 1988, 135 historical landslides were found through the review of catalogues, newspapers, monographs, technical reports, bulletins and scientific papers. The type and quality of information collected, and the methodologies and techniques used to analyze the data are described. The analysis has allowed verifying that debris flows and rock falls have been the most common types of movement. Historical landslides have been triggered by high-intensity or long-duration rainfalls, earthquakes, hurricanes and volcanic eruptions confirming that landslides are not isolated phenomena but usually a consequence of other events. Besides hurricane Mitch, also other hurricanes have triggered landslides in the past. Data on damage and casualties are collected and integrated in a database. The spatial distribution of historical landslides shows that they have occurred mainly along the Pacific Volcanic Chain and few events were found within the Interior Highlands, the hilly relief of the Pacific Coastal Plain and the Atlantic Coastal Plain. The historical data help in improved understanding of landslide processes, their spatial and temporal distribution, as well as the economical and human losses caused by them, all of which are necessary for future landslide hazard and risk assessment in Nicaragua.

Four Monasteries have been investigated as pilot monuments in the area of Mount Athos. In the present research the geotechnical conditions of the Monasteries foundation area are studied, regarding the description and the classification of the rock mass and the analysis of the rock slope stability. The area is very fractured and traversed by joints of various directions (mainly NNW, NNE and SSW). These discontinuities can generate unstable geotechnical conditions in the rock mass especially at the slopes of the construction areas.