Patrick Meunier

Transient changes of landslide rates after earthquakes

Earthquakes impart an impressive force on epicentral landscapes, with immediate catastrophic hillslope response. However, their legacy on geomorphic process rates remains poorly constrained. We have determined the evolution of landslide rates in the epicentral areas of four intermediate to large earthquakes (M w , 6.6–7.6). In each area, landsliding correlates with the cumulative precipitation during a given interval. Normalizing for this meteorological forcing, landslide rates have been found to peak after an earthquake and decay to background values in 1–4 yr, with the decay time scale probably proportional to the earthquake magnitude. The transient pulse of landsliding is not related to external forcing such as rainfall or aftershocks, and we tentatively attribute it to the reduction and subsequent recovery of ground strength. Observed geomorphic trends are not linked with groundwater level changes or root system damage, both of which could affect substrate strength. We propose that they are caused by reversible damage of rock mass and/or loosening of regolith. Qualitative accounts of ground cracking due to strong ground motion abound, and our observations are circumstantial evidence of its potential importance in setting landscape sensitivity to meteorological forcing after large earthquakes.

Input and output mass flux correlations in an experimental braided stream. Implications on the dynamics of bed load transport

Through the development of a model experiment it is shown that there exists a correlation between input and output sediment fluxes in a micro scale braided stream that remains valid regardless of the stability of the braided river. This correlation has some important consequences on the mechanics of bed load transport by braided rivers. It enables the definition of both a dimensionless stream power and a dimensionless transport efficiency. These dimensionless variables in turn permit the definition of a braided river stability criterion with regard to bed load transport. The existence of such a correlation also suggests that the average critical shear stress or slope of motion may depend on the flux of mass input to the system. Using these findings together with a one-dimensional Exner equation for the conservation of mass, a kinematic wave equation for the average evolution of the riverbed is eventually derived and its significance analyzed.

A seismologically‐consistent expression for the total area and volume of earthquake‐triggered landsliding

We present a new, seismologically consistent expression for the total area and volume of populations of earthquake-triggered landslides. This model builds on a set of scaling relationships between key parameters, such as landslide spatial density, seismic ground acceleration, fault length, earthquake source depth, and seismic moment. To assess the model we have assembled and normalized a catalog of landslide inventories for 40 shallow, continental earthquakes. Low landscape steepness causes systematic overprediction of the total area and volume of landslides. When this effect is accounted for, the model predicts the total landslide volume of 63% of 40 cases to within a factor 2 of the volume estimated from observations (R2=0.76). The prediction of total landslide area is also sensitive to the landscape steepness, but less so than the total volume, and it appears to be sensitive to controls on the landslide size-frequency distribution, and possibly the shaking duration. Some outliers are likely associated with exceptionally strong rock mass in the epicentral area, while others may be related to seismic source complexities ignored by the model. However, the close match between prediction and estimate for about two thirds of cases in our database suggests that rock mass strength is similar in many cases and that our simple seismic model is often adequate, despite the variety of lithologies and tectonic settings covered. This makes our expression suitable for integration into landscape evolution models and application to the anticipation or rapid assessment of secondary hazards associated with earthquakes.

Measuring bedload in gravel-bed mountain rivers: averaging methods and sampling strategies

A dataset of more than 1,000 individual bedload samples coupled with hydraulic flow variables (water depth and velocity) was collected on two high mountain rivers the torrent de Saint Pierre, a proglacial gravel-bed river in the French Alps, in July 2002 and the Urumqi River, in the Chinese Tianshan mountains during summer 2005 and 2006. Analysis of the dataset leads to question the usual section averaged sampling procedure of bedload using Helley-Smith type bedload sampler. It is shown that this procedure is inadequate to catch the full range of flow conditions. Comparison between moving averages on individual datasets and section averages furthermore show that this technique can lead to significantly different rating curves with predictions differing by more than an order of magnitude. Single point sampling is shown to be much more adequate than multiple point sampling and section averaging provided the dataset is sufficiently large.

The mass balance of earthquakes and earthquake sequences

Large, compressional earthquakes cause surface uplift as well as widespread mass wasting. Knowledge of their trade-off is fragmentary. Combining a seismologically consistent model of earthquake-triggered landsliding and an analytical solution of coseismic surface displacement, we assess how the mass balance of single earthquakes and earthquake sequences depends on fault size and other geophysical parameters. We find that intermediate size earthquakes (Mw 6–7.3) may cause more erosion than uplift, controlled primarily by seismic source depth and landscape steepness, and less so by fault dip and rake. Such earthquakes can limit topographic growth, but our model indicates that both smaller and larger earthquakes (Mw   7.3) systematically cause mountain building. Earthquake sequences with a Gutenberg-Richter distribution have a greater tendency to lead to predominant erosion, than repeating earthquakes of the same magnitude, unless a fault can produce earthquakes with Mw > 8 or more.

Permanence des flux de masse d'une rivière en tresses expérimentales

A small-scale experimental braided river system has been reproduced. This experiment shows that: (i) destabilisation of the river occurs through sediment feeding; (ii) for constant input fluxes of mass, transfer by the river evolves towards a steady state in which mass fluxes at each end of the reach remain constant although instable braiding remains inside the box; (iii) instability of the braided river remains both when the system aggrades or degrades.