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Capillary barrier effects in unsaturated layered soils, with special reference to the pyroclastic veneer of the Pizzo d’Alvano, Campania, Italy

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Abstract

The paper reports a study on the capillary barrier effects in a layered pyroclastic deposit with different permeabilities. During prolonged low intensity rainfall, such phenomena lead to a significant increase in saturation in the least permeable soil layers. This is a common situation on the slopes of Pizzo D’Alvano (Campania, Southern Italy) where severe landslides were triggered in May 1998, and in many other geological environments where geological, sedimentological, geomorphologic and pedological processes may have produced a sequence of soils with different hydraulic conductivity. The results of laboratory column infiltration tests and evidence of capillary barrier effects are presented and used in the calibration of numerical unsaturated flow models.

Résumé

L’article présente une étude sur les effets de barrière capillaire dans des dépôts pyroclastiques stratifiés de différentes perméabilités. Pendant des pluies prolongées de faible intensité, de tels phénomènes conduisent à une augmentation significative du degré de saturation dans les niveaux les moins perméables. C’est une situation commune sur les pentes du Pizzo d’Alvano (Campanie, Italie du Sud), où des glissements importants eurent lieu en mai 1988, ainsi que dans de nombreux autres contextes géologiques présentant des séquences de sols de différentes conductivités hydrauliques résultant de divers processus géologiques, sédimentologiques, géomorphologiques et pédologiques. Les résultats de tests d’infiltration en colonnes au laboratoire et la mise en évidence d’effets de barrière capillaire sont présentés et utilisés pour la calibration de modèles numériques d’écoulement en milieu non saturé.

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Acknowledgments

Special thanks must be addressed by the authors to Prof. Oldrich Hungr, from University of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada) for the precious advice provided in the preparation of the paper and to Dr Francesco Fiorillo (University of Sannio, Italy) for the support received during the in situ tests. The authors wish to thank also Prof. Giovanni B. Crosta (University of Milano Bicocca, Italy) and Prof. Francesco Maria Guadagno (University of Sannio, Italy) for useful discussion in the preparation the current work. The authors’ gratitude is also addressed to G. Dimarco, M. Di Quarto, F. De Giorgio, L. Carelli, V. Iurlaro, G. Mercurio andM. Andriulo, who provided assistance during in situ and laboratory tests.

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  1. Department of Environmental Engineering and Sustainable Development, Engineering Faculty of Taranto, Politecnico di Bari, Viale del Turismo, 8, 74100, Bari, Italy

    D. Mancarella & V. Simeone

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  1. D. Mancarella
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  2. V. Simeone
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Correspondence to D. Mancarella.

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Mancarella, D., Simeone, V. Capillary barrier effects in unsaturated layered soils, with special reference to the pyroclastic veneer of the Pizzo d’Alvano, Campania, Italy. Bull Eng Geol Environ 71, 791–801 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-012-0419-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-012-0419-6

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