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Stability Assessment of a Bedding Rock Slope Using Q-slope and Seismic

Tomography: A Case Study in the Ecuadorian Amazon

Article in Periodica Polytechnica Civil Engineering · November 2021

DOI: 10.3311/PPci.19005

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Periodica Polytechnica Civil Engineering

Stability Assessment of a Bedding Rock Slope Using Q-slope and

Seismic Tomography: A Case Study in the Ecuadorian Amazon

Jorge Espin1*, Sebastián Araujo1

1
Geophysics and Geotechnics Research Group, Earth and Water Sciences Faculty, Ikiam Universidad Regional Amazónica, 7 km from
Muyuna, Napo, Ecuador
* Corresponding author, e-mail: jorge.espin@ikiam.edu.ec

Received: 26 July 2021, Accepted: 23 October 2021, Published online: 05 November 2021

Abstract
Roads are generally affected by slope failures, and these failures can increase when there are weathered materials and high rainfall.
These circumstances occur in the sub-Andean zone of Ecuador. This is the region where the study area is located. The stability of a
stratified rock slope, which is affecting a section of highway E45, was evaluated. The study slope is exposed to the road, but the upper
part is covered by a soil-type material and dense vegetation that makes it challenging to study. We applied the Q-slope method and
seismic tomography; these methods used together worked well, because they allowed to correlate and infer information about the
quality of the rock mass, even in a fast and economical way. We also performed core drilling with core recovery in the crown of the
slope and SPT test. The slope presented two well-differentiated zones; therefore, Q-slope values were calculated for each of these
zones. The results show that the slope is unstable. The application of seismic tomography as an input parameter for calculating
Q-slope was important because it allowed evaluating the stability where it is impossible to collect geomechanical information, correlate
information taken at the foot of the slope, and define the depth of the bedrock.
Keywords
Q-slope, rock slope, seismic tomography, Napo Formation, Amazon Highway

1 Introduction
In this work, we use seismic tomography images to obtain Turkey with the same seismic equipment used in our
the quality parameter of the mass rock. Many seismic study, the Geometrics ES-3000, obtains seismic refraction
surveys worldwide show the uses of this technique to tomography images in a slope formed by pyroclastic and
know the rock quality in diverse geological formations. dacitic volcano rocks [8].
For example, the seismic refraction profiles are used The slope described in our study is located in the prov-
in Singapore granite bedrock [1] and in the limestones, ince of Napo, regionally located in the north of the sub-
gypsiferous shale, and red marl in the Bidu Formation Andean zone of Ecuador, at the foothills of the Eastern
of Iran [2]. The seismic refraction tomography is used in Cordillera, formed by tectonically uplifted terrain and
soft sedimentary carbonatic rocks of the karst in south- characterized by very intense seismic and volcanic activ-
eastern Italy [3] and the outcrops of sandstone and shale ity, as well as erosion processes in the form of landslides
in Malaysian high-ways [4]. The borehole seismic tomog- (Fig. 1) [9].
raphy is also helpful for testing bridge foundations over The lithology of the slope corresponds to the Napo for-
Himalayan terrain with dolomite and limestone rocks [5]. mation of the Cretaceous age, composed of a sequence
In the specific case of using seismic tomography in the of grey to black shales with intercalations of limestones
rock slopes quality determination, we have a 2D and 3D and sandstones, possibly the most important formation in
survey in an unstable mountain slope with three kinds of eastern Ecuador due to its oil interest [10]. This formation
gneiss in the Swiss Alps [6]. Also, acoustic testing in the crosses Ecuador with an N-S orientation. Therefore, it is
dam slopes of basalt and marble in China gives a reason- exposed in several sections of the E45 road and some sec-
able determination of the P wave velocity to explore the ondary roads in the eastern provinces by reviewing the
rock mass properties [7]. Finally, a survey in Northeast geologic map of Ecuador [11].

Cite this article as: Espin, J., Araujo, S. "Stability Assessment of a Bedding Rock Slope Using Q-slope and Seismic Tomography: A Case Study in the
Ecuadorian Amazon", Periodica Polytechnica Civil Engineering, 2020. https://doi.org/10.3311/PPci.19005
2|Espin and Araujo
Period. Polytech. Civ. Eng.

(a)

Fig. 1 Location and geology of the study area

(b)
Fig. 2 Slope in contact with the bridge and road infrastructure. Some
blocks can be seen at the foot of the slope

The study slope has a 90° slope, a total width of 80 m,

and a height of 15 m at its highest point. The slope inter-
acts with a section of the main highway, with the right
abutment of the bridge over the Napo River and with
cables and electric lighting poles (Fig. 2).
The rock mass is generally stratified. The upper part of
the slope corresponds to a layer of soil-type material and
is covered with vegetation. The rock mass underneath is
characterized by two clearly differentiated zones. Zone A
(Fig. 3), which has a sequence of shales, limestones, and
calcareous sandstone, this zone has a thickness of 4m and
three families of joints. Zone B (Fig. 3) corresponds to
a less fractured limestone 4 m thick and presents two fam- (c)
ilies of joints. The structural data of the two zones, we can Fig. 3 (a) Rock mass characterized by zone A and B, these areas have
see in Figs. 3(b), 3(c) and Table 1, respectively. structural and lithological differences (b) Stereographic projection of
zone A, (b) Stereographic projection of zone B
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Period. Polytech. Civ. Eng.

RQD
Table 1 Orientations of the plans is the crude measure of the relative block size,
Jn
Zone A Orientation (D/DD) Zone B Orientation (D/DD) same as with the Q-index [14].
 Jr 
J1 86/2 81/16   is the shear strength but has an orientation and
 J a 0
J2 88/98 87/119 "wedge" adjustment.
J3 87/30 - Jwice is the long-term exposure to various climatic and
S0 12/252 16/278 environmental conditions.
SLO 90/91 SRFslope is the stress reduction factor for the slope, takes
D dip, DD dip direction, SLO slope orientation, S0 bedding plane into account the physical conditions, stress, and
orientation of the more significant discontinuities.
2 Data and methods
2.1 Q-slope Barton and Bar [15] derived a simple equation for the
We use the Q-slope method [12]. This method was developed steepest angle (β) In Eq. (2) and a chart depicted in Fig. 4,
by supplementing the Q index [13], originally developed to which allows prediction of the degree of slope stability.
reinforce and support tunnels and caverns and designed for This chart (Fig. 4) is based on a database of almost 200
active use in rock outcrop characterization seismic veloc- individuals [17]. Q-slope analyzes has been applied to
ity interpretations and borehole core logging [14]. Q-slope igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks, including
is a recent empirical method to assess the stability of rock saprolite-type materials in several countries [15].
slopes in the field. It is applied in different lithologies, civil
β = 20 log10 Qslope + 65° (2)
engineering, and mining projects. It allows engineers to
make adjustments to slope angles as excavation progresses In the abscissa axis of the stability chart (Fig. 4), the
without the need for reinforcement for slope heights of less value of the Q-slope is entered, and on the ordinate axis,
than 30 m [15]. However, the Q-slope is applied to slope the slope angle in degrees. This chart allows knowing if
heights up to 250 m; typically recommended up to 50 m as the slope is stable, unstable, and uncertain conditions.
per reference [16]. As in our case, the slope is 15 m, there- The colored areas: green, red, and gray, show these three
fore it is in the range of application. behaviors of the slope, respectively.
The calculation of the Q-slope requires six input param-
eters [12]: 2.2 Seismic refraction tomography
We use a set of 24 geophones with a natural frequency of
RQD  J r  J
Q− slope = * wice , (1) 4.5 Hz branched to a seismograph Geometrics-ES 3000.
J n  J a 0 SRFslope
*
The processing software for picking the head-waves and
where: the refraction tomography is the SeisImager/2D [18].

Fig. 4 Slope stability chart [15]

4|Espin and Araujo
Period. Polytech. Civ. Eng.

We installed a seismic line SL1 with azimuth 30° to

the cliff using a road to avoid working on the tropical for-
est. The line is 115 m long with 24 geophones spaced 5 m
(Fig. 5). We have produced 24 sledgehammer shots every
5 m and use these 24 records for the refraction tomography.
We also use a second line SL2 with a 45 m length. LS2 is
extended through the forest and is across the slope (Fig. 5).
The orientation of the joint geological sets is horizontal
in the priori model of the tomography. The priori model is
a flat layer model following the topography. The altitude of
each geophone is introduced in the tomography software,
and it designs the topography of the studying site [18].
The direct visual observation of the strata in the outcrop of
the slope (Fig. 3) and the absence of significant evidence of Fig. 5 The red lines gives the positions of the two seismic lines: SL1 and
folds in the studied regions [11] justify the choice of a hor- SL2, used in this study. The dot-mark is the position of the borehole
izontal flat layered model.
To obtain the priori model for the seismic tomogra- solution. In Fig. 6 we show the convergence of the solution
phy, we make preliminary inversions with the data. These for different values of the horizontal smoothing parameter.
inversions give a superficial velocity of 0.8 km/s and a 15 m This parameter in the software has an inverse relation
depth velocity of 3.2 km/s. After, we find that 26 iterations with the smoothing applied: 1.0 is not smoothing, and 0.3
of the code are enough to reach the convergence of the is the solution with maximum smoothing.

Fig. 6 Top left: the convergence of the solutions for different horizontal smoothing parameters given by colors. Top right: The L-curve for a vertical
smoothing parameter of 1.0. The colors give the value of the horizontal parameter. Bottom left and right: L-curves for vertical smoothing of 0.9 and
0.3. The L-curve with vertical 1.0 gives the optimal solution in the corner horizontal 0.6
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Period. Polytech. Civ. Eng.

The problem of the refraction seismic tomography is the road, due probably to the high weathering of the rocks
the non-uniqueness of the solution [19]. To deal with this below the rain forest. The 1.3 km/s is the value we can use
problem, we follow a regularization strategy based on the in the following sections.
L-curve criterion [20]. We set a vertical smoothing value,
and then we test all the solutions for all possible horizontal 2.3 Seismic Q-slope using P-wave velocity
smoothing values from 0.3 to 0.8 in the SeisImager soft- Barton [21] developed the V–Q relationship, In Eq. (3). And
ware. The solutions with horizontal smoothing 0.9 and 1.0 order to include rock that could be weaker or oven stronger
are oscillating and do not give a good convergence. than the assumed "hard" rock, Qc was introduce [16].
Then, we compute the norm of the model and plot these
V p = 3.5 + log * Q (3)
values versus the RMS obtained from the inversion. Fig. 2
gives the resulting L-curves for three vertical smoothing The Q-value and its modified form Qc, obtained by nor-
parameters: 1.0, 0.9, and 0.3. The colors define the value of malizing with UCS/100, has many potentials uses in rock
the horizontal parameter. engineering. It can be correlated to the seismic P-wave
From the three tests, the case with no vertical smooth- velocity Vp (km/s) and Q-slope In Eqs. (4)–(6) [13, 22].
ing 1.0 gives the best concavity of the L-curve. From this In Eq. (4), unconfined compressive strength (σc) in mega-
L-curve, the corner is the horizontal parameter 0.6, which pascals (MPa).
gives the optimal solution for our tomography problem. σc
Qc = *Q (4)
The regularized solution for SL1 is in Fig. 7 (top panel). 100
We interpret the green color in Fig. 7 (top panel) as the
Napo formation approximately 4.5 m below the surface. Qc = 10
(V p −3.5) (5)
The seismic P wave velocity value obtained is 2.3 km/s.
J wice
This tomographic model gives a representation of the con- Qslope = (Qc )0 * (6)
SRFslope
tinuity of the stratum.
The second tomographic model in Fig. 7 (bottom panel) The Qc value does not consider orientation factor
for the SL2 gives us the velocity value for the Napo for- (O-factor) and environmental and geological conditions
mation in the zone of the slope. This layer corresponds to number (Jwice), and the SRFslope in most cases should be
a green color with 1.3 km/s for the seismic wave velocity. equal to one as stress reduction factors were already con-
The P wave velocity is lower than the result in the line over sidered in the Q-value relationship with Vp [13].
In our case for Zone A, we take a value of Jwice = 0.6
according to Table 6 (wet environment - incompetent rock
and stable structure) in [12].

2.4 Borehole
In the upper part of the slope, drilling with core recovery
was carried out. The diameter of the recovered core was
10 cm. The drilling allowed us to relate the geophysical
information, determine the thickness of the soil layer, and
perform SPT test at 2.40 m depth (Fig. 8). The maximum
depth of the borehole was 4.35 m (Fig. 9). The characteri-
zation of the soil layer that covers the massif A is import-
ant in this way, because [15] indicate the application of
the Q-slope cannot be applied to soil masses, rock fill, or
landslide debris.
The SPT was developed circa 1927, is performed by
Fig. 7 The model obtained by seismic refraction tomography in the two
driving a standard split spoon sampler into the ground by
seismic lines SL1 (top panel) and SL2 (bottom panel). The letters AB
and AC give the sense of the cross-sections. Vertical and horizontal blows from a drop hammer of mass 63.5 kg falling 760 mm.
scales are in meters. P wave velocity is in km/s. The Napo formation is The sampler is driven 152 mm into the soil at the bottom of
the green color with a seismic wave velocity of 2.3 km/s a borehole, and the number of blows (N) required to drive it
6|Espin and Araujo
Period. Polytech. Civ. Eng.

Fig. 8 Borehole box shows three layers of soil. The first brown layer Fig. 9 The SPT test was performed on this material. This box shows
corresponds to a sandy clay soil (0.0 m to 0.75 m). The second dark the continuation of the third layer. This layer is where the SPT test was
brown layer corresponds to a plastic clay, with a low percentage of sand carried out
(0.75 m to 1.30 m). The third gray layer corresponds to a clayey sandy
material (1.30 m to 4.35 m) Table 2 Q-slope value calculation factors
Q-slope A B
an additional 304 mm is counted. The number of blows (N) RQD 90 95
is called the standard penetration number. The advantage Jn 15 6
that lies in this is simple and quick to perform, and is very Jr SET A 1 2
useful for determining changes in stratigraphy [23]. SET B 1 2
Ja SET A 3 2
3 Results SET B 3 2
SL2 and the borehole have defined a 7 m thick soil cover. 0-factor SET A 0.5 1
The SPT test gave rejection at 2.50 m depth, indicating an SET B 0.8 1
increase in resistance in layer 3 (Fig. 8). Jwice 0.6 0.7
Two geomechanical stations were carried out in the SRFslope 10 2.5
lower part of the slope, these allowed collecting informa- Q -slope 0.016 4.43
tion of the intact rock and discontinuities, this information
was used to calculate the Q-slope of the zone A (Q-slope A) Table 3 Q-slope value calculation factors from SL2
and zone B (Q-slope B) directly applying Eq. (1). Vp 1.3
One more Q-slope value of zone A (Q-slope A-SL2) was Qc 0.0063
calculated from the SL2, in this case Eq. (6) was used intro- Jwice 0.6
ducing the value of Vp. SRFslope 1
The values for the calculation of Q-slope A and Q-slope B Q -slope A-SL2 0.00378
are shown in Table 2, and the values of Q-slope A-SL2 in
Table 3. The values of Q-slope A and Q-slope A-SL2 are dif-
ferent, but, in general terms, both values show that the
4 Discussion rock mass has a poor quality. This study observed that the
Three Q-slope values were obtained, the resulting Q-slope Q-slope value of zone A, obtained from SL2, is lower than
A and Q-slope B values were calculated from data col- the one obtained from the front of the massif. The result
lected directly from the faces of each rock mass. The of Q-slope B is higher than all, and this is because the
Q-slope A-SL2 value was calculated from the SL2. The rock mass has a competent structure, the orientation of the
seismic tomography line was also performed to determine joints is quite favorable, and the SRF-slope value is low
the material coverage of the soil type. The decision to use due to their physical conditions. Using the LS2 allows us
geophysics was made because part of the massif in zone to define the depth at which the rock massif is located and
A is at a considerable height and covered with vegetation, compare the Q-slope A-SL2 value with the Q-slope value
making it difficult to access on foot. obtained directly from the massif.
 Espin and Araujo
Period. Polytech. Civ. Eng. |7

The criterion to divide the slope into two zones (A and B) preferred computing the Qc and the Q-slope. However, we
was made based on the lithology and geological struc- can see low values in the seismic velocity due to weathering
ture, assuming as if they were individual benches, in order conditions of this tropical region similar to our study zone.
to obtain a Q-slope value for each zone. This is possible
according to [24] because the Q-slope can be used in road 5 Conclusions
or rail cuttings or individual benches in open pit mines. We have obtained two values of the wave velocity for the
The SPT rejection value indicates that the hard soil Napo Formation rocks: 2.3 km/s in the dried zone of the
begins at a depth of 2.50 m. This data is essential because slope and 1.8 km/s in the weathered zone of the slope.
it allows us to relate it to the SL2 information and deter- These two values come from a seismic refraction tomog-
mine how far this material advances, helping us to define raphy regularized using the method of the L-curve.
the beginning of the massif. The values of Q-slope A (0.016) and Q-slope A-SL2
Previous works compute quality rock mass coefficients (0.00378) correlated very well and show that this area of
using seismic tomography [1–7] in different scenarios and the slope is of poor quality and unstable. The Q-slope B
geological formations. However, there are no previous (4.43) indicates this zone presents uncertainty as to its sta-
research works of Q determination in the organic-rich shales, bility, but due to its low height and the orientation of its
limestones, and sandstones of the Napo formation, where structures, problems can be ruled out. Overall, the results
the velocities in our study go from 1.8 km/s to 2.3 km/s. show that the slope is unstable in zone A. A stable design
Then, we can compare our results with limestones and can be achieved by setting the steepest slope angle and
shales of Bidu Formation [2], where the velocities vary making a berm between the massifs.
between 2.5 km/s and 2.950 km/s and the Qc varying from Stability was assessed by focusing on the rocky part of
0.04 to 5.012. In our case, the Qc is 0.063, and the lower the slope. However, for further study, it would be essen-
value is justified for the high weathering of the rock mass tial to complement the stability analysis by other methods
in the tropical zone. that consider the geomechanical properties of the materi-
The other previous work with similar results to our als and the interaction of the soil layer above the massif.
research is in the sandstones and shales of Malaysia's high-
ways outcrops [4]. The velocities go from 0.75 km/s to Acknowledgements
3.5 km/s, and the Q-System varies from 2.696 to 6.550. Corrections made by two anonymous referees have been
We cannot compare these results directly because we have invaluable in this research.

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