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Natural and man-induced stress evolution of slopes: the Monte Mario hill in Rome

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Environmental Geology

Abstract

The paper deals with stress-release effects induced by man-made cuts or excavations into natural stiff clay slopes that experienced erosion in response to valley deepening. The study was focused on the Monte Mario hill in Rome (Italy), which formed part of an area of recent urban expansion. The methodology of the study relied on a reference engineering-geology model, which was developed on the basis of site and laboratory data and stress–strain analyses. The latter analyses were carried out with the finite-difference code FLAC 4.0. Numerical modelling was based on a sequential approach, taking into account the main evolutionary stages of the Tiber river valley in Romeȁ9s urban area and then making cuts at the bottom of the slope located south of the Monte Mario Astronomical Observatory. The simulation revealed the stress-release effects that fluvial erosion and excavation fronts have caused on the investigated slopes and their consequent gravitational instabilities. These processes appear with metre-scale displacements, followed by stress-release cracks (actually observed on the slopes under review). In quantifying stress-release deformations, the simulation took into account the possible role of creep in the observed retardation of stress-release effects.

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Acknowledgements

The author thanks F. Marra and A. Prestininzi for their scientific review of this paper and for their personal communications; the authors are also indebted to Roma Natura for providing technical documentation about the “Parco di Monte Mario” area and to Astaldy Company for the access to the “Passante a NW” tunnel during its construction. Publication of this paper was funded by grants of the Earth Science Department of the University of Rome “La Sapienza” (MIUR “ex 60%”, responsible Dr. M. Gaeta).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Roma “La Sapienza”, P.le A.Moro 5, 00185, Rome, Italy

    F. Bozzano & S. Martino

  2. Sezione Geologica, Eco Edilizia Depurazioni, Rome, Italy

    M. Priori

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  1. F. Bozzano
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  2. S. Martino
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  3. M. Priori
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Correspondence to S. Martino.

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Research activities were carried on with the co-operation of Dȁ9Arcangelo A. (Consorzio TREESSE, andrea.darcangelo@libero.it) and Moretti S. (IMG S.r.l. Servizi Tecnici per lȁ9Ingegneria e lȁ9Ambiente, moretti@img-srl.it)

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Bozzano, F., Martino, S. & Priori, M. Natural and man-induced stress evolution of slopes: the Monte Mario hill in Rome. Environ Geol 50, 505–524 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-006-0228-y

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