[ghsc-seminars] Monday, December 2nd @ 3 pm - Slope Stability and Root Strength

[Mirus, Benjamin]

*Tree root control of geomorphological processes: *
*from science to engineering *

*Massimiliano Schwarz*
*B**ern University of Applied Sciences, Switzerland*
*Filippo Giadrossich*
*University of Sassari, Italy*
*Denis Cohen-Corticchiato*
*CoSci LLC , New Mexico Tech, US*

Vegetation influences and is influenced by complex interactions between
factors that
dynamically shape landscapes and their functioning. The mechanical effect
of roots is
considered particularly important for slope stability. In this seminar we
present a summary of
the work done by our group to understand and quantify the effect of root
reinforcement on
different morphological processes, and we present some tools that
implements such
knowledge for practice-oriented applications. In particular, we will
present the application of
software that quantify the effect of root reinforcement at different
spatio-temporal scales,
such as SOSlope, SlideforMAP, and SlideforNET.

The slope stability model SOSlope has been developed since 2009 using
concepts of fiber
bundle models to consider specifically the spatial distribution of root
reinforcement due to
different forest structures and tree species. Also, research results on the
stress-strain
behavior of rooted soils under shearing, tension and compression have been
implemented.
This tool is applied to calculate the risk-based value of protection
forests or bioengineering
measures at the hillslope scale.

SlideforMAP is spatial distributed 3D-probabilistic slope stability model
that considers the
variability of parameters difficult to be parametrized at large scale such
as soil mechanical
properties and soil depth, based on landslide datasets. This model is used
at catchment or
regional scale to produce hazards map for shallow landslides or large wood
recruitment, for
the prioritization of protection forest management or the smart targeting
of soil erosion
control with bioengineering measures. SlideforNET is a simplified version
of SlideforMAP,
that perform the same calculation for a single homogeneous slope. This tool
is used in the
preliminary phase of projects or during discussion between experts to
quantitatively estimate
the order of magnitude of the effects of root reinforcement on slope
stability.

*Monday, December 2nd**, 2019*
*3-4pm*
*  (Mountain Time)*
*USGS, 1711 Illinois Street, Golden, CO*
*Entry Level Seminar Room (204)*

*Note: Please arrive *~5 minutes early* and *bring photo ID* for
airport-style security measures now in place at the USGS building.

Thank you,
GHSC Seminar Committee

Ben
Mirus - bbmirus at usgs.gov
Josh Rigler - erigler at usgs.gov
Oliver Boyd - olboyd at usgs.gov <oboyd at usgs.gov>
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