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Abstract: The results of a study on gravitational induced lateral spreading phenomena are here reported. The lateral spreading processes are widely represented in the Italian Apennines due to the widespread overlapping of stiff rock masses on more ductile ones. The stress–strain evolution of these processes was investigated by combining an analogical and a numerical modelling approach. The analogue modelling reproduced the evolution of a carbonate ridge thrust over a clayey flysch with reference to the case-study of Mt. Roccatagliata–Mt. Sant'Angelo ridge. The rock mass juxtaposition was reproduced in a laboratory experiment by overlapping a brittle concrete on a viscous ductile material; these materials were selected with rheological properties, physically scaled with respect to the natural rock mass prototypes. The spreading phenomenon was modelled by opening horizontal panels in sequential stages and monitoring the resulting stresses within the ductile material during the experiment. A stress–strain modelling was also performed by an FDM numerical solution; this modelling replied the laboratory experiment by testing the use of different rheological constitutive laws. The resulting stresses and morphological evolutions are comparable with the analogical laboratory experiment only if a time-dependent rheological behaviour is assumed for the ductile material. The results show that lateral spreading processes can be properly investigated by combining analogue and numerical modelling techniques which take into account the viscous-plastic behaviour of the used materials. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: On 30 January 2009, a rock slide involving approximately 0.23Mm3 of highly jointed gneiss from the local Ercinic substratum was recorded in southern Italy. The landslide occurred after exceptional autumnal rainfalls and involved a quarry whose activity has been documented over the past 10years by aerial images. An engineering-geology model of the slope involved in the landslide was developed based on the geomechanical classification of the outcropping rock masses, the ISRM (2007) indexes Ib (the block size index) and Jv (the volumetric joint count), and the observed geological setting of the slope. An equivalent continuum approach was adopted to attribute strength and stiffness parameter values to the different classes of jointed rock masses. A simplified evolutionary model of the slope was developed, starting from 300ka (i.e., from the erosional phase following the deposition of the 300-m-a.s.l. marine terrace deposits overlaying the gneiss substratum) to 30 January 2009. The model took into account the main depositional phases as indicated by the Pleistocene marine terrace deposits and the documented stages of quarry activity. Time-dependent stress–strain numerical modelling was performed by the FDM software FLAC 6.0. A visco-plastic Burger model was used to back-analyse the landslide event and to define the values of the rheological parameters for the jointed gneiss. The results, which were strongly constrained by the geomorphological evidences and by the displacement field observed before and after the landslide, demonstrated a combination of i) time-dependent gravitational slope deformation and ii) anthropogenic release due to quarry activity, which induced a progressive failure process and an increase in the jointing within the gneissic rock mass located behind the cut-wall of the quarry. Failure was ultimately triggered by intense rainfalls that occurred in the 3months before the landslide. The stress–strain numerical modelling demonstrated the reliability of visco-plastic rheology for simulating the rock mass creep in this case history: viscosity values in the range of 1019–1023 Pa·s were derived. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper presents the results of a study on a deep-seated gravitational slope deformation affecting the eastern slope of the Mt. Rocchetta ridge (central Apennines, Italy). Fieldwork identified the ongoing deformational process and assisted in defining its mechanisms, evolution and controlling factors. An equivalent continuum approach was adopted to characterize the rock mass with some modification for the temporal and spatial scale of the process. A visco-elastic-plastic rheological model was adopted for the numerical analysis, which also took into account the groundwater flow feeding the Capo Volturno spring. The results of the numerical analysis are consistent with the observed geomorphic evidence and suggest a morpho-evolutionary model of the ridge characterized by an initial phase of rock mass creep followed by a rock mass spreading process, mainly controlled by the viscous behaviour but with a significant contribution from groundwater for the smaller scale instabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]