• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.187-197
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• 2021

Clay mineral content of weathered zone is a key parameter for landslide studies. Electrical resistivity tomography is usually performed to delineate the geometry of complex landslides and to identify the sliding surface. In clay-bearing weathered zone, parallel resistivity Archie equation is employed to investigate the effect of conductivity added (resistivity reduced) by clay minerals of kaolinite and montmorillonite, which is dependent on their specific surface area and cation exchange capacities (CEC). A decrease of overall resistivity and apparent formation factor is observed with increasing pore-water resistivity, significantly in montmorillonite. Formation factor is found decreased with increasing porosity and decreasing cementation factor. Parallel Archie equation was applied to the electrical resistivity data from the test area (Sinjindo-ri, Taean-gun, Chungcheongnam-do, Korea) which experienced land creeping in the year of 2014. A panel test with varying clay-mineral contents provides the best fit section when the theoretical section constructed with the assumed contents approaches the field section, from which the clay-mineral content of the weathered zone is estimated to be approximately 10%. Resistivity interpretation schemes including the clay mineral contents for land creeping studies explored in this paper can be challenged more when porosity, saturation, and pore-water resistivity are provided and they are included in the numerical resistivity modeling.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.269-281
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• 2021

Land creeping is the imperceptibly slow, steady, downward movement o f slope-forming soil or rock. Because creep-related failures occur frequently on a large scale without notice, they can be hazardous to both property and human life. Korea Forest Service has operated the prevention and response system from land creeping which has been on the rise since 2018. We categorized and proposed three survey steps (e.g., preliminary, regional, detailed) for investigation of creeping susceptibility site with a focus on geophysical mapping of a selected test site, Yongheung-dong, Pohang, Korea. The combination of geophysical (dipole-dipole electrical resistivity tomography and reciprocal seismic refraction technique, well-logging), geotechnical studies (standard penetrating test, laboratory tests), field mapping (tension cracks, uplift, fault), and comprehensive interpretation of their results provided the reliable information of the subsurface structures including the failure surface. To further investigate the subsurface structure including the sliding zone, we performed high-resolution geophysical mapping in addition to the regional survey. High-resolution seismic velocity structures are employed for stability analysis because they provided more simplified layers of weathering rock, soft rock, and hard rock. Curved slip plane of the land creeping is effectively delineated with a shape of downslope sliding and upward pushing at the apex of high resistive bedrock in high-resolution electrical resistivity model with clay-mineral contents taken into account. Proposed survey steps and comprehensive interpretation schemes of the results from geological, geophysical, and geotechnical data should be effective for data sets collected in a similar environment to land-creeping susceptibility area.