Large Rock Slope Failures Induced by Recent Earthquakes

Recent earthquakes caused many large-scale rock slope failures. The scale and impact of rock slope failures are very large, and the form of failure differs depending upon the geological structures of slopes. First, the author briefly describes some model experiments to investigate the effects of shaking or faulting due to earthquakes on rock slopes. Then, fundamental characteristics of the rock slope failures induced by the earthquakes are described and evaluated according to some empirical and theoretical models. Furthermore, the observations for slope failures in relation to earthquake magnitude and epicenter or hypocenter distance were compared with several empirical relations available in the literature. Some of major rock slope failures induced by earthquakes are selected, and the post-failure motions are simulated and compared with observations. In addition, the effects of tsunamis on rock slopes in view of observations in the reconnaissances of the recent mega-earthquakes are explained and are discussed.