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Stability analysis of the 2007 Chehalis lake landslide based on long-range terrestrial photogrammetry and airborne LiDAR data

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Abstract

On December 4th 2007, a 3-Mm3 landslide occurred along the northwestern shore of Chehalis Lake. The initiation zone is located at the intersection of the main valley slope and the northern sidewall of a prominent gully. The slope failure caused a displacement wave that ran up to 38 m on the opposite shore of the lake. The landslide is temporally associated with a rain-on-snow meteorological event which is thought to have triggered it. This paper describes the Chehalis Lake landslide and presents a comparison of discontinuity orientation datasets obtained using three techniques: field measurements, terrestrial photogrammetric 3D models and an airborne LiDAR digital elevation model to describe the orientation and characteristics of the five discontinuity sets present. The discontinuity orientation data are used to perform kinematic, surface wedge limit equilibrium and three-dimensional distinct element analyses. The kinematic and surface wedge analyses suggest that the location of the slope failure (intersection of the valley slope and a gully wall) has facilitated the development of the unstable rock mass which initiated as a planar sliding failure. Results from the three-dimensional distinct element analyses suggest that the presence, orientation and high persistence of a discontinuity set dipping obliquely to the slope were critical to the development of the landslide and led to a failure mechanism dominated by planar sliding. The three-dimensional distinct element modelling also suggests that the presence of a steeply dipping discontinuity set striking perpendicular to the slope and associated with a fault exerted a significant control on the volume and extent of the failed rock mass but not on the overall stability of the slope.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank E. Fea and T. Sivak for their assistance in the field. Funding for the fieldwork was provided by BC Hydro and BC Ministry of Forests and Range. The airborne LiDAR data were commissioned and provided by BC Hydro. The authors would also like to acknowledge the editor and reviewers for their constructive comments which improved the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada

    Marc-André Brideau, Matthieu Sturzenegger, Doug Stead, Nicholas J. Roberts, Brent C. Ward & John J. Clague

  2. Institute of Geomatics and Risk Analysis, Université de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Michel Jaboyedoff

  3. BC Hydro, Burnaby, Canada

    Martin Lawrence

  4. British Columbia Ministry of Forests and Range, Nanaimo, Canada

    Thomas H. Millard

  5. School of Environment, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Marc-André Brideau

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  1. Marc-André Brideau
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Correspondence to Marc-André Brideau.

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Brideau, MA., Sturzenegger, M., Stead, D. et al. Stability analysis of the 2007 Chehalis lake landslide based on long-range terrestrial photogrammetry and airborne LiDAR data. Landslides 9, 75–91 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-011-0286-4

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