Using a laser measurement system for monitoring morphological changes on the Strug rock fall, Slovenia

Abstract

A medium-ranged high performance handheld reflectorless laser measurement system, was used for a morphological survey on the Strug rock fall in W Slovenia in the period from August 2003 to August 2004. The purpose was to evaluate its potential for monitoring ground surface changes in rock fall source areas and to help evaluating morphological changes by measuring distance from fixed points. In the area, 21 fixed geodetic points have been established. Altogether, seven measurement sets with more than 5500 points have been gathered in the rock fall area. Choosing a point cloud with a density of less than 1 point per 10 m2 on a very rough rock fall surface failed to be a good solution. The changes on larger areas were shown by displacements of selected significantly large-sized rock blocks with a volume of several m3. Because only smaller changes were observed between the single field series, the rock fall surface generally remained unchanged. Local surface changes of the order of 1 m or more, were clearly shown by measurements in the selected referenced cross sections. The usage of these cross sections gave a possibility to evaluate volumetric changes on the surface. The laser measurement system provided a good replacement for the classical terrestrial geodetic survey equipment, especially when performing remote monitoring of morphological changes in rock fall hazard zones, however, the case is different when fixed points are to be measured precisely. © 2005 Author(s). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.