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Evolution of a human-induced mass movement under the influence of rainfall and soil moisture

The Porciles landslide case study (NW Spain)

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Abstract

The excavation of the trench of the future A-63 as it passed through the village of Porciles (43°24′N 06°18′W) in NW Spain, posed several stability problems from its inception. On March 6, 2016, after three extraordinarily rainy months, an instability event took place, moving more than 10,000 m3 of land downslope, completely occupying the road and interrupting traffic for 7 months. This study is focused on the role of rainfall and soil moisture as factors involved in the triggering and evolution of the instability event. The lapse of more than 4 months between the landslide occurrence and the removal of the displaced material allowed the study of the progression of the mass displacement by the analysis of (i) weekly oblique photographs taken from three fixed points; (ii) four digital terrain models: two from previous topographic data and two more obtained from later drone flights; and (iii) rainfall and soil moisture measurements, including pre-landslide data. This work highlights the relevance of human activity as a preparatory factor and the role of precipitation and soil moisture as triggering and sustaining factors which condition the mass movement process.

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Acknowledgements

We really appreciate the suggestions and comment of two anonymous referees that have contributed to substantially improve the manuscript.

Funding

This research has been partially financed by the COSINES Project [CGL2017-83909-R, MINECO/AEI/FEDER, UE], the GEOCANCOSTA Project [GRUPIN-IDI-2018–184], the GEOCANTABRICA Project [FC-15-GRUPIN14-044] and the ORDENACAOS Project [CGL 2012–34475].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, University of Oviedo, C/ Jesús Arias de Velasco s/n 33005, Oviedo, Spain

    María José Domínguez-Cuesta, José Cuervas-Mons & Juan Luis Alonso

  2. Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, Oviedo, Spain

    Luis Quintana

  3. Tecnologías y Servicios Agrarios, Tragsatec S.A, Madrid, Spain

    Pablo Valenzuela

  4. Department of Mining Exploitation and Prospecting, Polytechnic College of Mieres, University of Oviedo, Oviedo, Spain

    Silverio García Cortés

Authors
  1. María José Domínguez-Cuesta
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  2. Luis Quintana
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  3. Pablo Valenzuela
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  4. José Cuervas-Mons
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  5. Juan Luis Alonso
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  6. Silverio García Cortés
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Contributions

M.J. Domínguez-Cuesta processed digital information by GIS and prepared the manuscript with contributions from all co-authors. L. Quintana took the weekly photographs and calculated the slide displacement from them. P. Valenzuela carried out the precipitation and soil moisture analysis. J. Cuervas-Mons performed the DInSAR analysis, the results of which were not finally included as they were neither relevant nor useful. J.L. Alonso contributed to the data analysis. S. García Cortés carried out the drone flights.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to María José Domínguez-Cuesta.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Domínguez-Cuesta, M.J., Quintana, L., Valenzuela, P. et al. Evolution of a human-induced mass movement under the influence of rainfall and soil moisture. Landslides 18, 3685–3693 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-021-01731-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-021-01731-4

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