Application of Resistivity and Seismic Refraction Tomography for Landslide Stability Assessment in Vallcebre, Spanish Pyrenees

Abstract

Geophysical surveys are a noninvasive reliable tool to improve geological models without requiring extensive in situ borehole campaigns. The usage of seismic refraction tomography (SRT), electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) and borehole data for calibrating is very appropriate to define landslide body geometries; however, it is still only used occasionally. We present here the case of a Spanish Pyrenees slow-moving landslide, where ERT, SRT and lithological log data were integrated to obtain a geological three-dimensional model. The high contrasts of P-wave velocity and electrical resistivity values of the upper materials (colluvial debris and clayey siltstone) provided accurate information on the geometry of the materials involved in the landslide body, as well as the sliding surface. Geophysical prospecting allowed us to identify the critical sliding surface over a large area and at a reduced cost and, therefore, gives the geophysical method an advantage over borehole data. The three-dimensional model was used to carry out stability analyses of a landslide in 2D and 3D, which, coherently with previous studies, reveal that the lower part is more unstable than the upper units.

Keywords

• landslides
• electrical resistivity tomography
• factor of safety
• seismic refraction tomography