Observation and simulation of root reinforcement on abandoned Mediterranean slopes

Abstract

The mechanics of root reinforcement have been described satisfactorily for a single root or several roots passing a potential slip plane and verified by field experiments. Yet, precious little attempts have been made to apply these models to the hillslope scale pertinent to landsliding at which variations in soil and vegetation become important. On natural slopes positive pore pressures occur often at the weathering depth of the soil profile. At this critical depth root reinforcement is crucial to avert slope instability. This is particularly relevant for the abandoned slopes in the European part of the Mediterranean basin where root development has to balance the increasing infiltration capacity during re-vegetation. Detailed investigations related to root reinforcement were made at two abandoned slopes susceptible to landsliding located in the Alcoy basin (SE Spain). On these slopes semi-natural vegetation, consisting of a patchy herbaceous cover and dispersed Aleppo pine trees, has established itself. Soil and vegetation conditions were mapped in detail and large-scale, in-situ direct shear tests on the topsoil and pull-out tests performed in order to quantify root reinforcement under different vegetation conditions. These tests showed that root reinforcement was present but limited. Under herbaceous cover, the typical reinforcement was in the order of 0.6 kPa while values up to 18 kPa were observed under dense pine cover. The tests indicate that fine root content and vegetation conditions are important factors that explain the root reinforcement of the topsoil. These findings were confirmed by the simulation of the direct shear tests by means of an advanced root reinforcement model developed in FLAC 2D. Inclusion of the root distribution for the observed vegetation cover mimics root failure realistically but returns over-optimistic estimates of the root reinforcement. When the root reinforcement is applied with this information at the hillslope scale under fully saturated and critical hydrological conditions, root pull-out becomes the dominant root failure mechanism and the slip plane is located at the weathering depth of the soil profile where root reinforcement is negligible. The safety factors increase only slightly when roots are present but the changes in the surface velocity at failure are more substantial. Root reinforcement on these natural slopes therefore appears to be limited to a small range of critical hydrological conditions and its mitigating effect occurs mainly after failure.