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Soil Moisture Profiles of Unsaturated Colluvial Slopes Susceptible to Rainfall-Induced Landslides by Paolo Paronuzzi; Marco Del Fabbro; Alberto Bolla is a Earth and Planetary Sciences article available to read on EtoBox.

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In this work, we describe soil moisture profiles related to typical colluvial slopes that were involved in rainfall-induced shallow failures occurring in alpine and pre-alpine areas of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region (NE Italy). The trend of the volumetric water content (θw) showed a general increase from the ground surface to the bottom soil layer, with two or three marked moisture peaks. The saturation degree (S) varied from 65–70% (topsoil horizon) to nearly saturated basal colluvium (S = 95–100%). Soil moisture data demonstrates that, for a very humid climate, colluvial covers are often close to the saturation condition for most of the year. The calculated suction profiles indicated that maximum values ranging from 40 to 55 kPa often occur in the slope surficial soil (depth < 0.2–0.5 m). This negative pore-water pressure greatly decreases after a heavy rainfall event because of the infiltration process. Complete saturation of colluvial cover in the alpine and pre-alpine regions generally requires rainfall exceeding 150–200 mm for a 24-h storm duration. This results in a recurrence time of Tr ≅ 5–10 years for critical rainfall episodes involving colluvial slopes in the Friuli V

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Author

Paolo Paronuzzi; Marco Del Fabbro; Alberto Bolla

Publisher

MDPI AG

Published

2021

Language

EN

Field

Earth and Planetary Sciences (Physical Sciences)