Effect of Rock Fragments on Tracer Transport in Broadleaved and Coniferous Forest Soils: Column Study

This study investigated the effect of rock fragments on tracer transport in broadleaved and coniferous forest soils from the 0 - 100 cm depth of Gongga Mountain in eastern margin of Qinghai Tibetan Plateau. Using repacked soil columns (20 cm in height and 10 cm in diameter) with different rock fragments contents (0%, 5%, and 15% in v/v), breakthrough curves of bromide (as non-reactive tracer) were obtained under saturated condition. A two-region model was applied and the parameters were estimated by inverse modeling. Results show that with increasing rock fragment content the dispersivity (λ) generally increased while the mobile-immobile partition coefficient (β) and the mass transfer coefficient (ω) decreased. The presence of rock fragments led to an increase in the fraction of immobile domain as well as soil tortuosity. A plausible explanation is that the soil beneath the rock fragments behaved as immobile domain and soil-rock interfaces could serve as preferential flow paths.

Estimation of Shallow Landslide Susceptibility Incorporating the Impacts of Vegetation on Slope Stability

This study aimed to develop a physical-based approach for predicting the spatial likelihood of shallow landslides at the regional scale in a transition zone with extreme topography.Shallow landslide susceptibility study in an area with diverse vegetation types as well as distinctive geographic factors(such as steep terrain,fractured rocks,and joints)that dominate the occurrence of shallow landslides is challenging.This article presents a novel methodology for comprehensively assessing shallow landslide susceptibility,taking into account both the positive and negative impacts of plants.This includes considering the positive efects of vegetation canopy interception and plant root reinforcement,as well as the negative efects of plant gravity loading and preferential fow of root systems.This approach was applied to simulate the regional-scale shallow landslide susceptibility in the Dadu River Basin,a transition zone with rapidly changing terrain,uplifting from the Sichuan Plain to the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau.The research fndings suggest that:(1)The proposed methodology is efective and capable of assessing shallow landslide susceptibility in the study area;(2)the proposed model performs better than the traditional pseudo-static analysis method(TPSA)model,with 9.93%higher accuracy and 5.59%higher area under the curve;and(3)when the ratio of vegetation weight loads to unstable soil mass weight is high,an increase in vegetation biomass tends to be advantageous for slope stability.The study also mapped the spatial distribution of shallow landslide susceptibility in the study area,which can be used in disaster prevention,mitigation,and risk management.