1975/05/01 by M. J. Kirkby, Ian Statham · 2 citations
Environmental Science · Engineering · Mathematics · #Landslides and related hazards #Soil and Unsaturated Flow #Groundwater flow and contamination studies #Geology #Kinematics #Rockfall #Movement (music) #Surface finish #Scale (ratio) #Geometry #Mechanics #Geotechnical engineering #Geodesy #Mathematics #Landslide #Classical mechanics #Physics
paper · doi:10.1086/628097
openalex publication_date 1975/05/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
The accumulation of rockfall talus slopes has been studied for conditions in which stones are added relatively slowly, so that dynamic interactions between them may be ignored, and stone movements modeled "one-at-a-time." Laboratory scale models (1 m long) are compared with the results of mathematical and computer simulation. Mathematical analysis assumes that stone movement down the talus is equivalent to a "sliding-only" movement, and laboratory results support this assumption. Grain-size grading is explained in terms of the relative roughness of different material sizes to stones moving down the talus. Profile concavity is ascribed to the run-out of some material, corresponding to the tail of the frequency distribution for travel distances. Growth of the talus profile is modeled as a kinematic wave. The lower concavity obtained on both stochastic and scale models relative to deterministic models is thought to result from local accumulations of stones in the upslope parts of the talus which then produce small mass-movements at a constant slope.