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Santa Maria dell'Isola is a rocky promontory surrounded by the Tyrrhenian Sea and located in Tropea municipality in Vibo Valentia Province (Calabria, southern Italy) (Fig. The preliminary results discussed herein suggest that the possible causes of the instability phenomena are imputable to the sandstone rocks' weak nature, the rock masses' high fracturing state, and the intense erosive processes by sea wave energy at the cliff foot. They show the topographic changes caused by rocks detached and the material accumulation at the foot of the cliff Conclusion Assessing the cause of the slope instability and focusing on site-specific geological characteristics are crucial steps before projecting suitable consolidation interventions. [Extracted from the article]

A large-scale obliquely inclined bedding rockslide, activated by a heavy rainstorm, occurred on July 8, 2020, at 7:05 (UTC + 8) in Shiban Village, Songtao Miao Autonomous County, Guizhou Province, China. The loss of life in this event was greatly reduced owing to the local warning system for rainstorm-induced geohazards. To understand the failure characteristics, triggering factors, the genetic mechanism of the landslide, the geomorphological features, geological characteristics, hydrological conditions, and rainfall characteristics were systematically studied by a synthetic approach including field investigations, satellite imagery, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) photography, laboratory tests, and rainfall data statistics. The results indicated that the interface between the soft and hard rock, the well-developed joints, and the free face in front of the slope constituted the boundaries of this landslide. The concave topography at the back and southern edge of the landslide, the bare ground, and the cataclastic structure of the rock mass provided favorable conditions for the collection or infiltration of rainwater. The concentrated rainstorm was the direct trigger for the landslide, which led to a rapid inflow and retention of rainfall in the landslide through favorable landform and geological conditions. The groundwater recharge that cannot be drained in time caused the mechanical deterioration of rock mass and induced a rapid increase in pore water pressure in the landslide. Moreover, the water level of the Ganlong River at the toe of the slope also rose rapidly, and the uplift pressure in front of the slope increased accordingly. Under the combined action of these adverse factors, the overall anti-sliding force of the slope was less than the sliding force, finally resulting in the landslide. Remarkably, the local warning system for rainstorm-induced geohazards successfully forecasted the landslide, but the shortcoming is that the forecast time in advance is short. Nevertheless, the prediction has significantly reduced human casualties and provided valuable experience for the prediction of this type of landslide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Landslide-related impulse waves are catastrophic but accidental, so limited data on field measurements are available; scaled physical experiment is therefore a functional method to simulate and analyze this phenomenon. A large-scale physical Froude-similar model to produce impulse waves was constructed based on the Chinese Gongjiafang landslide, which occurred on the main stream of Three Gorges after the impounding in the reservoir in China. With a scale of 1:200, the model had the dimensions of 24, 8, and 1.3 m. Four water levels, 145, 156, 172.8, and 175 m, were modeled for the experiments, and marble coarse sands were used to imitate the actual cataclastic rock mass. Wave height gauges, high-speed cameras, and run-up measuring instruments were used to monitor wave fluctuations in the model. Among the experiments, the ones modeled using a water level of 172.8 m best confirmed the actual conditions in the Gongjiafang landslide, representing a good validation of the experiments. This study obtained, for the first time, specific data on the reproduced impulse waves' convergence and superposition during propagation, and of the energy change between impulse waves and reflected waves. The test data describe a rapid decaying and gradual decaying rule for the wave heights and run-ups. The Froude-similar experiments presented in this article help us to understand the whole procedure of impulsive wave generated by cataclastic rock mass failure, and the results acquired contribute to studies of impulse waves caused by similar bank destabilizations worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]