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Failure characteristics of rainfall-induced shallow landslides in granitic terrains of Shikoku Island of Japan

  • Original Article
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Environmental Geology

An Erratum to this article was published on 25 October 2008

Abstract

Soil slips, debris slides, and flow occurrences on hill slopes of particular areas are closely related to the mode of rainfall. Because of geological, geomorphological, and climatic settings, Japan is highly prone to rainfall-induced landslides. In 2004, Shikoku, the smallest island of Japan, faced extreme events of typhoon rainfalls and suffered huge losses of life and property because of floods and landslides. This paper deals with the synoptic descriptions of failures that occurred in the granitic terrain of northeast Shikoku Island, Japan, along with rainfall and failure relationships during the typhoon 0423 (Tokage) of 2004. Examples of typical failures that occurred in Moriyuki and Monnyu of northeast Shikoku are taken into consideration in this study. Data from laboratory and field were used to perform sensitivity and stability analyses with respect to varying slope angles, strength parameters, and thicknesses of saturated residual soil. This study attempts to employ a standard method of stability analysis of translational slides, which are very common in masa soil (weathered granite) during extreme rainfall. Average rainfall intensities and duration during typhoon Tokage were also used to interpret landslide-triggering thresholds for the study area.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Mr. Toshiaki Nishimura and Mr. Eitaro Masuda for their help in the field and in the laboratory data collection. Ms. Seiko Tsuruta and Mr. Anjan Kumar Dahal are sincerely acknowledged for their technical support during the preparation of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Safety Systems Construction Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Kagawa University, 2217-20, Hayashi-cho, Takamatsu City, 761-0396, Japan

    Ranjan Kumar Dahal, Shuichi Hasegawa, Atsuko Nonomura, Minoru Yamanaka & Takuro Masuda

  2. Department of Geology, Tri-Chandra Multiple Campus, Tribhuvan University, Ghantaghar, Kathmandu, Nepal

    Ranjan Kumar Dahal

  3. Ichigaya Building, Oyo Corporation, 4-2-6, Kudan North, Chiyoda, Tokyo, 102-0073, Japan

    Katsuhiro Nishino

Authors
  1. Ranjan Kumar Dahal
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  2. Shuichi Hasegawa
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  3. Atsuko Nonomura
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  4. Minoru Yamanaka
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  5. Takuro Masuda
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  6. Katsuhiro Nishino
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Correspondence to Ranjan Kumar Dahal.

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An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00254-008-1596-2

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Dahal, R.K., Hasegawa, S., Nonomura, A. et al. Failure characteristics of rainfall-induced shallow landslides in granitic terrains of Shikoku Island of Japan. Environ Geol 56, 1295–1310 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-008-1228-x

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