Seismic characterization of a clay-block rupture in Harmalière landslide, French Western Alps

Abstract

SUMMARY In late June 2016, the Harmalière clayey landslide (located 30 km south of the city of Grenoble, French Alps) was dramatically reactivated at the headscarp after a 35-yr-long period of continuous but limited activity. The total involved volume, which moved as sliding blocks of various sizes, was estimated to be about 2 × 10 6 m3. Two seismometers were installed at the rear of the main headscarp in August 2016, on both sides of a developing fracture delineating a block with a volume of a few hundred cubic metres. For 4 months, they continuously recorded seismic ambient vibrations and microearthquakes until the block broke. Five seismic parameters were derived from the monitoring: the cumulative number of microearthquakes (CNe), the seismic energy (SE), the block resonance frequency (fB), the relative variation in Rayleigh wave velocity (dV/V) deduced from noise cross-correlations between the two sensors and the associated correlation coefficient (CC). All parameters showed a significant precursory signal before the rupture, but at very different times, which indicates the complexity of the rupture mechanism in this clay material.