Research on the formation of weathering substances as reserve materials for collapse and climatic conditions

Heavy rainfall or natural disasters such as earthquakes can lead to slope failure, which is when a slope weakens and rapidly collapses without warning. The speed of slope failure means there is little chance for people to escape and so there can be significant numbers of injuries and deaths. Warnings of slope failures from authorities tend to be inaccurate due to myriad factors, including the different properties of soils, as well as factors such as temperature and annual rainfall. Researchers at Saitama University and the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience in Japan, including Associate Professor Chiaki Oguchi and Principal Researcher of the project, Tsuyoshi Wakatsuki, are working to address knowledge gaps about sediment-related disasters, particularly slope failure. A key focus for the researchers is on estimating formation rates of slope materials that are waiting to collapse. The team is working to reduce unpredictability and improve the accuracy of disaster prevention measures. Currently, the researchers are investigating the formation of weathering substances as reserve materials for collapse and climatic conditions and, so far, they have ascertained that in areas with annual high temperatures, the slow failure materials tend to be those that are composed of a thick slope which contains a greater amount of fine soil particles. They have also confirmed that these materials show a higher potential for greater weathering, thereby exacerbating the issue and exponentially increasing the possibility of slope failure.