Deep fluids can facilitate rupture of slow-moving giant landslides as a result of stress transfer and frictional weakening

Abstract

Landslides accommodate slow, aseismic slip and fast, seismic rupture, which are sensitive to fluid pressures and rock frictional properties. The study of strain partitioning in the Séchilienne landslide (France) provides a unique insight into this sensitivity. Here we show with hydromechanical modeling that a significant part of the observed landslide motions and associated seismicity may be caused by poroelastic strain below the landslide, induced by groundwater table variations. In the unstable volume near the surface, calculated strain and rupture may be controlled by stress transfer and friction weakening above the phreatic zone and reproduce well high-motion zone characteristics measured by geodesy and geophysics. The key model parameters are friction weakening and the position of groundwater level, which is sufficiently constrained by field data to support the physical validity of the model. These results are of importance for the understanding of surface strain evolution under weak forcing. Key Points Deep fluid pressures can activate stable or slowly moving giant landslides No significant stressing is needed to explain seismic and geodetic data Implications for the partitioning of seismic and aseismic sliding ©2013. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.