Relationships between short periodic slope tilt variations and vital processes of the vegetation

Mentes, Gyula and Bódis, Virág Bereniké (2012) Relationships between short periodic slope tilt variations and vital processes of the vegetation. JOURNAL OF APPLIED GEODESY, 6 (2). pp. 83-88. ISSN 1862-9016

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Abstract

A lot of publications deal with the effect of the root network of the vegetation on near surface slope movements but the effect of the vital processes of the vegetation on soil deformation has been less investigated till now. In this presentation relationships between vital processes of the plants and small movements of the slope are shown. For monitoring stream bank movements, two geodetic test sites were established on the high loess bank of the River Danube at Dunaföldvár and Dunaszekcső in Hungary. On the Dunaföldvár test site two and on the Dunaszekcső test site three highly sensitive borehole tiltmeters were also installed for continuous monitoring of movements. The records of the tiltmeters show a daily variation with variable magnitude in the range of some microradians. From our previous research we know that these small movements are in close connection with the ground water variations. Vegetation maps were made for both test sites. The temperature and precipitation was continuously recorded. On the basis of these data and the vegetation map the potential evapotranspiration was calculated for both sites. Values of the potential evapotranspiration and precipitation were compared to the micro-tilts of the high loess banks at Dunaföldvár and Dunaszekcső. It was pointed out that the daily tilt amplitudes are in close connection with the vital processes of the plants. Our investigation showed that the vegetation can play an important role in hindering landslides occurrence since by planting appropriate vegetation on slopes the infiltration of the precipitation into the deep layers of the slope and so the moistening of the high bank can be significantly diminished.

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