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Rock Mass Characterization and Rockfall Monitoring: Traditional Approaches

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Landslides: Detection, Prediction and Monitoring

Abstract

Rock mass characterization and rockfall/rock slope stability monitoring methods are one of the fastest evolving research areas in the field of geosciences. Traditionally, simple mapping, geodetical or geotechnical methods are used. The ongoing rapid development of monitoring methods is conditioned by engineering challenges when new infrastructure is nowadays being constructed in complicated geological conditions. These are represented by mountainous areas, deep gorges with steep slopes, or even active landslide sites. Traditional methods can be used within these monitoring demanding sites and bring high-quality monitoring results, sometimes with higher precision than modern state-of-art methods. This chapter reviews traditional rock slope stability monitoring methods and discusses their advantages, applicability, and strong/weak sides. Traditional methods are compared against newly introduced, modern state-of-art methods.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Charles University and the Czech Academy of Sciences for their financial support. We would also like to thank the reviewers and the editor for their beneficial remarks that lead to the improvement of this paper. This research was performed in the framework of the long-term conceptual development research organization RVO: 67985891, TAČR project no. SS02030023 “Rock environment and resources” within the program “Environment for life”, internal financing from Charles University Progress Q44 and SVV (SVV260438) and the Charles University Grant Agency (GAUK 359421).

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  1. Department of Engineering Geology, Institute of Rock Structure and Mechanics, Czech Academy of Sciences, V Holešovičkách 94/41, 182 09, Prague, Czech Republic

    Ondřej Racek & Jan Blahůt

  2. Faculty of Science, Department of Physical Geography and Geoecology, Charles University, Albertov 6, 128 00, Prague, Czech Republic

    Ondřej Racek

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Correspondence to Ondřej Racek .

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  1. Department of Coastal Disaster Management, School of Physical, Chemical and Applied Sciences, Pondicherry University, Port Blair, India

    P. Thambidurai

  2. Indian Institute of Technology Patna, Bihta, Bihar, India

    T. N. Singh

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Racek, O., Blahůt, J. (2023). Rock Mass Characterization and Rockfall Monitoring: Traditional Approaches. In: Thambidurai, P., Singh, T.N. (eds) Landslides: Detection, Prediction and Monitoring. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23859-8_2

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