Search

Landslides are widespread geomorphological features on the North Island of New Zealand, where they represent one of the primary landscape-forming processes. This study focuses on the steepland terrain surrounding Gisborne, a city located on the east coast of the North Island, at the Hikurangi subduction margin. This terrain consists of young, weak, sedimentary rocks and soils; the most common modes of slope failures are soil creep, slides and flows in shallow, clay-rich soil and regolith, triggered by heavy rainfall. Based on observational data from Sentinel-1 imagery, this study leverages results from interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) processing to reveal the distribution of deformation across Gisborne's steepland periphery from January 2016 to December 2021. Velocities in the line of sight were obtained from the stack of interferograms and projected along the direction of maximum slope, to extract the true displacement on the slopes. The ascending and descending data sets were combined to reveal the vertical and horizontal components of the deformation. The results were combined with a regional LiDAR data set, aerial imagery and field observations to delineate areas of slope deformation. Finally, slope deformation time series data was compared with rainfall records to identify seasonal changes, due to shrinking and swelling of expansive soils. Although the InSAR displacement data contains some noise, results could be used to identify 132 unstable slopes within the study area, caused by soil creep and earthflows. Also, the shrink-swell of expansive soils causes a seasonal pattern of displacements, which varied by 10–20 mm/year between Austral winter and summer, strongly correlated to rainfall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The East Coast region of New Zealand has some of the highest erosion rates in the world, due to its proximity to an active plate boundary, susceptibility to high-intensity storms and steep terrain underlain by young soft sedimentary rock and soil. In the city of Gisborne, expansion of residential blocks into steeper terrain in peri-urban areas has required improved capacity for the characterisation and monitoring of slope stability. Landslides have affected several properties and have destroyed infrastructure. Slope failure commonly occurs during heavy rainfall events when slow-moving retrogressive slides transition into earthflows and mudflows. In this study, we used in situ sampling and testing methods combined with remote sensing techniques to provide an understanding of the pre-failure and post-failure behaviour of an urban landslide in Gisborne. High-resolution aerial imagery, unmanned aerial vehicle imagery and light detection and ranging data revealed slope morphology and contours of prehistoric failures in the area, and highlighted the more recent impacts of deforestation on slope stability. Furthermore, Sentinel-1 InSAR analysis determined that gradual deformation began in 2017, following two ex-tropical cyclone events. Deformation downslope continued until an initial failure in July 2020. Following that event, some parts of the slope proceeded to accelerate, leading to a further reactivation event in November 2021, following heavy rainfall. During this November 2021 event, average line of sight velocities ranged from −7.9 to −11.2 mm/year, and deformation rates in the vertical direction (related to rotational slumping) averaged −11.2 to −11.9 mm/year, consistent with field observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last 30 years, work on large wood (LW) has expanded and matured considerably, and river scientists, managers and practitioners now have a better appreciation of the role of LW in maintaining ecosystems, forming or stabilizing riverine landforms, and interacting with river morphodynamics. We have gained a better understanding of the hazards posed by the recruitment and transport of LW in the river channel and associated infrastructure. While LW dynamics have traditionally been studied in the natural river environment, innovations in laboratory techniques have enabled important advances in understanding LW process dynamics, using physical scale models, new sensors, scanners and sophisticated model boundary conditions. Current trends in LW laboratory research focus on (1) mobilization and transport of logs, (2) trapping and deposition of sediment in the presence of LW and (3) LW contribution to hydraulic flow resistance. Ultimately, a combined process understanding is needed to assess impacts upon infrastructure with erodible boundaries, such as bridge piers and LW retention racks. In this review, we present a critical analysis of emerging experimental work on LW obtained through physical modelling studies. We put recent experimental work in context with global LW management challenges. In particular, we set our work in context with the present environmental and engineering issues that confront catchment and natural resource managers in Switzerland and New Zealand. We show how improved physical models incorporating LW transport, accumulation and scouring processes are needed to contribute to more reliable hazard and risk assessment and improved river management in LW‐prone systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large (>0.1 km2) gully–mass movement complexes (badass gullies) are significant contributors to the sediment cascade in New Zealand's steepland East Coast Region catchments. The scale of change taking place in these gully systems allows significant evolution in morphology and sediment dynamics to be tracked at annual to decadal timescales. Here we document changes in two adjacent badass gullies in Waipaoa catchment (Tarndale and Mangatu) to infer sediment generation processes and connectivity using a morphological budgeting approach. A baseline dataset for this study is provided by a LiDAR‐derived digital elevation model (DEM) in 2005. We produced new DEMs and orthophoto mosaics using photogrammetry in 2017, 2018, and 2019 to quantify gully morphodynamics and associated volumes of sediment erosion and deposition in both systems as they co‐evolved. Results indicate ongoing rapid development of both gully complexes. Severe erosion took place at the gully heads with lowering and migration (up to 25 m vertically and laterally) of the topographic divide separating the two gullies between 2005 and 2019. Over the same period, net lowering of each gully system was ~250 mm year−1. Key sediment‐generating processes included surface erosion, deep‐seated landslides, and debris flows. Longer term, the overall contribution of sediment from both badass gullies to the Waipaoa catchment has been declining. In the mid‐20th century, both gullies yielded in excess of 300 kt year−1. From 2005 to 2019, 80 kt year−1 was yielded from Tarndale and 110 kt year−1 from Mangatu. Our most recent surveys demonstrated considerable variability in sediment yield, ranging from 76 kt year−1 (2017–2018) to 291 kt year−1 (2018–2019). The annual variability observed reflects the complex morphodynamics of discrete hillslopes and tributary fans in these badass gully systems and underlines the importance of integrating decadal and annual surveys when assessing system trajectory. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The historically unstable Sunkist Bay cliff in Auckland, New Zealand, is formed of weak Pleistocene alluvial sediments, infilling a paleovalley eroded into Miocene sandstone. Weathered tephra layers dip at low angles out of the cliff, and part-control stability. The last major failure prior to 2017 occurred in 2011, immediately to the west of the 2017 failure. Despite the long-term history of instability, over the last two decades, residential property construction has continued to < 10 m of the cliff edge. On 5 April 2017, ex-tropical cyclone Debbie delivered 157 mm of rainfall in 24 h, the 3rd highest 24-h total in 40 years. This was preceded 1 month earlier by 210 mm of rainfall on 8 March (the 'Tasman Tempest' storm), locally a 1 in 100-year event. A seawall constructed at the base of the cliff may have acted to inhibit pore-water pressure reduction during March–April 2017, because horizontal drains were absent in the seawall directly in front of the 2017 slope failure. Irrespective of the exact process-mechanisms of the 2017 failure, this case study highlights the importance of careful land use planning and imposition of adequate setback distances in coastal zones in New Zealand, and globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alluvial fans at tributary junctions modulate sediment flux through river networks, by buffering the mainstem channel from disturbance in the tributaries. Buffering occurs through the storage (and release) of sediment in fans. Here, we use an extensive historic dataset to characterise the ways in which fan buffering can change as sediment supply varies. In New Zealand's East Coast region, sediment supply and fluvial transport are prolific by global standards. We reconstruct how tributary‐junction fans in this region have responded to sediment generated by deforestation and extreme storms. The dynamics of five fans along the Tapuaeroa River are examined for the period 1939–2015. In response to major sediment loading, fans aggraded by up to 12 m and prograded by up to 170 m. Net sediment accumulation ranged from near zero to 1.5×106 m3. Fan size, gradient, sediment storage and buffering were influenced by both upstream and downstream controls. Key upstream (tributary) influences were sediment supply and stream power; downstream (mainstem) influences included distal confinement and, importantly, the nature of fan interaction with the mainstem, which aggraded by up to 6 m. The fans' ability to buffer the Tapuaeroa River from change in the tributaries was largely governed by this downstream interaction: as the mainstem aggraded, it increasingly curtailed fan progradation, thus limiting buffering. Previous studies of tributary‐junction fans have related fan morphometry to basin characteristics. However, we find that fan slope and area can vary considerably at decadal, annual or even monthly timescales. Consequently, we suggest that such studies could benefit by examining regional histories of disturbance. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessment of River Styles, accompanied by time series analysis of historic imagery and geomorphic change detection techniques are used to explain the capacity for river adjustment (geomorphic sensitivity) in relation to the distribution of stream power along 3000 km of channels (3rd Strahler order and greater) to better inform management initiatives in the Waipā catchment, the largest tributary of the Waikato River on the North Island of Aotearoa, New Zealand. Unlike most dynamically adjusting physical landscapes of Aotearoa, most reaches within the Waipā catchment are resistant to geomorphic change. Only 3% of the studied river length has experienced significant planform adjustment since the 1950s and is considered highly sensitive to adjustment. Contemporary alluvial dynamism is largely restricted to gravel bed reaches in high energy rivers within the piedmont zone. The capacity for lateral adjustment in headwater stream courses is restricted by the imprint of past volcanic activity. Further downstream capacity is also limited because of terrace constraints as a result of post-glacial base-level fall, and the entrenchment of the Waikato Fan. Anthropogenic modifications in the catchment include drained wetlands, straightened channels, reinforced banks and emplaced artificial levees (stopbanks) in the few reaches that were prone to adjustment. Highlighting geomorphologically-sensitive reaches at the catchment-scale helps to better prioritise rehabilitation efforts and to support the design and implementation of proactive management plans. [Display omitted] • Rivers in volcanic landscapes of the Waipā have limited capacity to adjust. • Geologic controls determine river geodiversity and sensitivity. • Anthropogenic impacts modify reaches that have capacity for geomorphic adjustment. • Sound management builds on coherent catchment-scale geomorphic understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]