Analysis of a delayed re-activation of movements on a stiff clay slope in Southern Italy after foot excavation

摘要

In a highly tectonized area, extensively subjected to landsliding in the past, excavation works were carried out. As a result, delayed reactivation of paleo-landslides occurred. The paper investigates the reasons for such delayed movements within a rather flat slope in stiff clays. Digging works for a road construction at the toe of the slope had been carried out 12 years before the displacement of a shallow landslide body, causing the development of fractures in the upper part of the slope and the consequent reactivation of larger and deeper sliding bodies. Limit equilibrium analyses have identified the instabilizing effect of the movements of the shallow body on the deeper landslides and the influence on stability of the seepage pattern.