Affiliation:
1. Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile e Architettura Università degli Studi di Catania Catania Italy
2. Dipartimento di Scienze Biologiche, Geologiche e Ambientali Università degli Studi di Catania Catania Italy
Abstract
AbstractAnimal activities threaten levee stability, especially during flood events, increasing levee failure risk. Indeed, while dens alter hydraulically‐induced failure mechanisms, it is difficult to locate them and to know in advance if critical conditions may be reached. This paper demonstrates that it is possible to perform nondestructive surveys to assess the risk of burrow animal activities in levee systems using a ground penetrating radar (GPR) for effective levee structure control, being GPR a nondestructive, expeditious, and cost‐effective geophysical technique. Here, a flood‐prone area in Sicily, where traditional hydraulic phenomena did not justify past levee failure events, is considered a case study. Through a visual inspection survey, several animal holes were recovered. GPR measurements allowed us to explore the levee interior and to detect the presence, distribution, and configuration of dens inside them. It was found that a complex burrow system crosses the entire embankment. Porcupine was recognized as a builder of such cavities. Although, previous studies established the porcupine presence in semi‐humid environments, for the first time, here we provide evidence of the development, articulation, and extension of porcupine burrows inside the levee system.
Subject
Water Science and Technology,Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality,Geography, Planning and Development,Environmental Engineering
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1. Flood risks from failure of infrastructure;Journal of Flood Risk Management;2023-11-07