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In the early hours of June 24, 2017, a major landslide event occurred in Xinmo Village, Sichuan Province, China. The landslide instantly devastated the whole village. Ten people died and 73 were missing in this major landslide event. The study area has suffered from several strong earthquakes in the past 100 y. Present studies have reported that the cumulative damage effect of the Xinmo landslide induced by earthquake is obvious. In this study, we conducted a shaking table test based on the detailed geological survey, historical seismic data, satellite optical image, unmanned aerial vehicle photography. The test result presents the characteristics of multistage seismic damage and progressive deformation process of the Xinmo landslide model, and shows that the historical earthquakes have caused serious damage to the interior of rock mass in the source area. The test also shows that the cumulative damage of the model increases with an increase in duration of earthquake loading. When the excitation intensity increases to a certain value, the damage accumulation velocity of the model suddenly increases. It reveals that frequent historical earthquake loads can be regarded as a main reason for the damage and deterioration of landslide rock mass. Damage accumulation and superposition occur in the slope. Under a long-term gravity, deformation of the slope gradually increases until catastrophic failure is triggered. The progressive deformation process of slope is summarized. Firstly, under strong earthquakes loading, a tensile fracture surface forms at the rear edge of the wavy deformation high and steep bedding slope. It reaches a certain critical depth and expands along the interlayer structural plane. Meantime, damaged fissures perpendicular to the structural plane also appear in the steep-gentle turning area of the slope. Secondly, under a coupling action of seismic loading and gravity, the interlaminar tensile crack surface at the rear edge of the slope extends to depth continuously. Meanwhile, rock fracture occurs in the steep-gentle turning area. The "two-way damage propagation" mode of the inter-layer tensile crack surface occurs until the sliding surface is connected. However, due to the "locking section" effect of rock mass at the slope foot, it can still maintain a short-term stability. Thirdly, under the influences of the heavy rainfall before a landslide and the long-term gravity of the upper sliding mass, rock mass in the steep section at the slope foot breaks outward. Finally, a catastrophic landslide occurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With massive engineering projects carried out in cold regions where freeze-thaw processes can affect the mechanical properties of rock material, the temporal variation of geotechnical stability is highly concerned. Three typical types of jointed rocks were selected to undergo a number of freeze-thaw cycles after which direct shear tests were conducted on samples of joints in the rock material. The degradation characteristics of the rock joints were examined by the changes of the shear parameters after increasing numbers of freeze-thaw cycles. The results show that the cohesion is more sensitive to cyclic freezing and thawing than the joint friction angle and that the influence on cohesion and joint friction angle is different between hard rocks and soft rocks. Based on the damage mechanics theory and the fact that the deterioration degree rises with increasing numbers of freeze-thaw cycles, the damage state variable was redefined to develop an exponential decay model of freeze-thaw cycles. The comparison of the fitting curves obtained by the proposed model with the experimental results shows that the model reasonably well reflects the degradation characteristics of the shear strength under cyclic freezing and thawing. The model can thus be used to predict the tendency of geotechnical strength degradation of rock masses in cold regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The experimental study on the water-holding characteristics of remolded loess was carried out, revealing the variation of water-holding characteristics with particle size composition and dry density. The results show that the air-entry value is positively correlated with the silt-sized content and negatively correlated with the sand-sized content. During the dehumidification of the specimens at a fixed dry density, when the air-entry value is between 9 and 10 Kpa, it is strongly influenced by the silt-sized content; however, beyond 10 Kpa, the sand-sized content is an important influencing factor. Changes in particle size composition have less influence on the residual water content. There is a non-linear relationship between the particle size composition and the slope λ of the dehumidification curve in the transition zone. Air-entry values, residual water content, saturated volumetric water content, and λ correlate well with dry density. Simulation tests were carried out using two power function models, including three variables. It was found that the VG model is a better fit than the Gardner model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clonal integration of defense or stress signal induced systemic resistance in leaf of interconnected ramets. However, similar effects of stress signal in root are poorly understood within clonal network. Clonal fragments of Centella asiaticas with first-young, second-mature, third-old and fourth-oldest ramets were used to investigate transportation or sharing of stress signal among interconnected ramets suffering from low water availability. Compared with control, oxidative stress in root of the first-young, second-mature and third-old ramets was significantly alleviated by exogenous ABA application to the fourth-oldest ramets as well as enhancement of antioxidant enzyme (SOD, POD, CAT and APX) activities and osmoregulation ability. Surface area and volume in root of the first-young ramets were significantly increased and total length in root of the third-old ramets was significantly decreased. POD activity in root of the fourth-oldest and third-old ramets was significantly enhanced by exogenous ABA application to the first-young ramets. Meanwhile, total length and surface area in root of the fourth-oldest and third-old ramets were significantly decreased. Ratio of belowground to aboveground biomass in the whole clonal fragments was significantly increased by exogenous ABA application to the fourth-oldest or first-young ramets. It is suggested that transportation or sharing of stress signal may induce systemic resistance in root of interconnected ramets. Specially, transportation or sharing of stress signal against phloem flow was observed in the experiment. Possible explanation is that rapid recovery of foliar photosynthesis in first-young ramets subjected to exogenous ABA application can partially reverse phloem flow within clonal network. Thus, our experiment provides insight into ecological implication on clonal integration of stress signal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tensile strength of soil plays an important role in controlling the cracking and tensile failure of many earth structures. In this investigation, a direct tensile test apparatus was developed to determine the tensile strength of compacted clayey soil over a broad range of water contents (4.3-28.5%) and with different dry densities (). The results show that the tensile strength of compacted clayey soil significantly depends on water content. The tensile strength characteristic curve (TSCC) exhibits one peak value occurring at the critical water content around 11.5%. With increasing water content, the tensile strength increases at the dry side of and then decreases at the wet side of it. Generally, with the increase of dry density, the tensile strength also increases. Moreover, a modified model is proposed to describe the tensile strength characteristics of compacted clayey soil, and it is validated by the obtained test data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Totally asymmetric exclusion processes at constrained m-input n-output junction points under random update are studied by theoretical calculation and computer simulation in this paper. At the junction points, the hopping rate of particles from m-input parallel lattices to n-output parallel lattices is assumed to be equal to r/n (0 rc and r < rc, qualitatively different phases exist in the system. With the increase of the value of m/n, the regions of (LD, LD) and (MC, LD) or (HD, LD) decrease, and the (HD, HD) is the only phase that increases in the region (LD stands for low density, HD stands for high density, and MC for maximal current). Stationary current and density profiles are calculated, showing that they are in good agreement with Monte Carlo simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ring-shear experiments are commonly conducted to analyze the kinematic mechanisms of landslides triggered by earthquakes, particularly for landslides impacted by pore-water pressure near the grain-crushing sliding surface. However, pore-water pressure is rarely considered in numerical simulation of the post-failure behavior of earthquake-induced landslides. In this paper, a pore-water pressure model based on the results of ring-shear tests (Cui et al. Landslides 14(3):1–15, 2016) is incorporated into the discontinuous deformation analysis (DDA) for modeling and further understanding the initiation and motion behaviors of the Niumiangou landslide triggered by the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. The pore-water pressure can be recalculated in each time step before the sliding block is detached from the base in the source area, and the friction coefficient of the sliding surface is simultaneously updated according to the pore-water pressure ratio in the modified DDA. The modified pore-water pressure DDA (PWP-DDA) is validated by means of comparison with the analytical results of the dynamic behaviors of a sliding block on an inclined plane under dynamic acceleration. The simulation results indicate that the pore-water pressure on the sliding surface of the Niumiangou landslide sharply increases within a short period, with small relative displacement of the landslide. Relative to the simulated results from the unmodified DDA, the pore-water pressure calculated by the PWP-DDA promotes higher velocity and longer run-out of the sliding mass. Moreover, the modeling run-out and deposit pattern from the PWP-DDA are in basic agreement with the topography of an actual survey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large and catastrophic rock avalanche occurred at the Xinmo village in the Maoxian county of the Sichuan province of China on June 24, 2017. The avalanche destroyed 64 houses and killed 10 people, and 73 people were reported to be missing. In this study, we focused on the contributions of six historical earthquakes to the collapse of rocks in the source area and the landslide amplification caused by the entrainment of pre-existing deposits on the landslide path. The historical earthquakes in this area contributed different levels of damage on the source rocks; particularly, the 1933 Diexi earthquake induced a few initial cracks in rocks at the crest of the steep hillslope. Under the combined time-effects of long-term weathering and gravity, the rock blocks in the source area were detached from the crest along the intersecting cracks and over-dip soft layer (namely, the sliding surface). The avalanche was amplified by the entrainment of colluvium on its path. The influence of the colluvium on the movement process of the Xinmo landslide was modelled by the GPU-based parallel discontinuous deformation analysis (DDA) method, and the effect of the impact and entrainment in the debris flow was rigorously analysed. The results indicate that the impact and entrainment can continuously increase the volume of debris flow, and the thickness of the colluvium was established to be in the range of 25.9–33.9 m based on the analysis of the deposit pattern and movement duration of the avalanche. There were numerous unstable rocks induced by historical earthquakes, at the crests of steep hill slopes in the earthquake-stricken area. With long-term damage caused by environmental factors and gravity, the failure of unstable rocks with high potential energy is likely to cause severe disasters. The excess pore water pressure likely to be present in the colluvium or deposits during impact and entrainment can considerably reduce the effective stress and degrade friction resistance along the runout path. As a result, the landslide can be intensively amplified owing to the effect of impact and entrainment under a lower friction resistance • The volume of rock avalanche sharply increased by entrainment effects. • The rocks at the source were damaged by historical earthquakes. • The colluvium exerts different influences on the movement of the avalanche with an increase in its thickness. • Numerous earthquake-damaged rocks at the summit of mountains are hazardous. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]