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Delineation of landslide endangered areas and mapping their fracture systems by the pressure probe method

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Abstract

A new method, the so-called pressure probe (Pre-P) method, has been developed for detecting and characterizing mechanically weak zones which may not be visible from the surface and which may occur, e.g. due to landslides. On a high bank at Dunaszekcső, Hungary, the fracture system of the loess landslide area was investigated by large resolution applying this method and proved that (1) cracks as small as 2- to 3-cm wide are detectable; (2) the fractures follow each other almost periodically; and (3) on the side of the fractures towards the slump, there are less fractured zones whose width correlates with the width of the given fracture. We also demonstrated that on the passive side of the clearly visible fracture, (1) there are also fractures along which future rock displacement is expected; (2) these fractures are at least as wide as the active side fractures; and (3) the blocks there are about twice as wide as those on the active side. A block several meters wide is expected to fall before the main mass movement. The Pre-P method seems to be the most powerful tool to map the fracture system of such landslides because of its speed, simplicity of application, cost and interpretation. The Pre-P profiles and maps of the fracture system of a landslide enable to understand landslide evolution and delineate endangered areas earlier than by other methods.

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Acknowledgments

S. Szalai, one of the authors of this paper, received a grant from the János Bolyai Scholarship. We would also like to express our thanks to Ádám Tóth and Csaba Molnár for their aide in the field surveys and data processing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MTA CSFK GGI, 9401, Sopron, POB 5, Hungary

    Sándor Szalai & Kitti Szokoli

  2. Archaeology Department, College of Tourism and Archaeology, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

    Mohamed Metwaly

  3. National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics (NRIAG), Cairo, Egypt

    Mohamed Metwaly

Authors
  1. Sándor Szalai
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  2. Kitti Szokoli
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  3. Mohamed Metwaly
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sándor Szalai.

Appendix A

Appendix A

The measuring device

The principle of the Pre-P method using a manual pressure probe is simple: When the probe is dropped from the same height, its penetration depth depends on mechanical resistance of the soil. The probe consists of two parts: the T-shaped metal rod (1 in Fig. 4) and the discs superimposed on it (2 and 3 in Fig. 4) to increase its weight. There is a depth scale on the rod. The lower weight prevents the probe from dropping into wider cracks. The design facilitates the vertical drop reducing this type of error. The ideal drop height is 1 m, which is convenient for most people. However, if necessary, it is possible to drop the probe from a larger height to get reasonable results in more compact soils. In such cases, increasing the weight of the probe or using a penetrometer might be simpler. For technical details of the probe, see Table 1.

Table 1 Technical specifications of the manual pressure probe
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Szalai, S., Szokoli, K. & Metwaly, M. Delineation of landslide endangered areas and mapping their fracture systems by the pressure probe method. Landslides 11, 923–932 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-014-0509-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-014-0509-6

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