Location
New York, New York
Date
15 Apr 2004, 1:00pm - 2:45pm
Abstract
October 26, 1995 a snow avalanche hit a village in NW Iceland killing 20 people. Subsequently, extensive research on the properties and characteristics of avalanches and defence possibilities was instigated aiming at appraising preventive measures. Due consideration of the prevailing conditions showed training dikes (deflecting dams) of specific height and angles to be the most cost effective measures, provided that these could be constructed from materials available in the immediate vicinity. Additionally, the steeper the slope facing the avalanche (upstream) the more protective the dike. This was designed and constructed at 1 vertical to 1.25 horizontal upstream. The 1200 m long dikes extend from sea level to 60 m a.s.l. up a slope of 10 to 15°. The necessary height varied along the dikes’ alignment from 20 m at the top to 15 m at sea level. Total volume in the dikes amounts about 700.000 m³. The Flateyri fishing village is located in a fiord on a low, narrow promontory extending from a relatively steep mountain slope. The mountainside contains numerous circues and crevasses where appreciable amounts of snow may accumulate. The mountain, some 15 million years old, is built up from a succession of basalt lava flows, frequently intercalated with relatively thin sediments. The columnar core of each flow is typically adjoined by upper and lower scoriae. During the ice age the entire area was ice covered. The glacier left relics in the surroundings e.g. moraines. Thus the talus covering the slopes adjoining the village contains essentially eroded materials of glacial and erosional origin, with the angle of the talus gradually increasing with elevation from essentially zero to some 35°. The talus typically classifies on USCS as SM material, containing some 30 % fines, equal percentage of sand with the remainder being gravel and boulders. This constitutes the construction material.
Department(s)
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Meeting Name
5th Conference of the International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering
Publisher
University of Missouri--Rolla
Document Version
Final Version
Rights
© 2004 University of Missouri--Rolla, All rights reserved.
Creative Commons Licensing
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Document Type
Article - Conference proceedings
File Type
text
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Pálmason, Pálmi R.; Sigtryggsdóttir, Fjóla Guðrún; Sigurðsson, Flosi; and Tómasson, Gunnar Guðni, "Snow Avalanche Training Dike at Flateyri, Iceland" (2004). International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering. 25.
https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/icchge/5icchge/session02/25
Snow Avalanche Training Dike at Flateyri, Iceland
New York, New York
October 26, 1995 a snow avalanche hit a village in NW Iceland killing 20 people. Subsequently, extensive research on the properties and characteristics of avalanches and defence possibilities was instigated aiming at appraising preventive measures. Due consideration of the prevailing conditions showed training dikes (deflecting dams) of specific height and angles to be the most cost effective measures, provided that these could be constructed from materials available in the immediate vicinity. Additionally, the steeper the slope facing the avalanche (upstream) the more protective the dike. This was designed and constructed at 1 vertical to 1.25 horizontal upstream. The 1200 m long dikes extend from sea level to 60 m a.s.l. up a slope of 10 to 15°. The necessary height varied along the dikes’ alignment from 20 m at the top to 15 m at sea level. Total volume in the dikes amounts about 700.000 m³. The Flateyri fishing village is located in a fiord on a low, narrow promontory extending from a relatively steep mountain slope. The mountainside contains numerous circues and crevasses where appreciable amounts of snow may accumulate. The mountain, some 15 million years old, is built up from a succession of basalt lava flows, frequently intercalated with relatively thin sediments. The columnar core of each flow is typically adjoined by upper and lower scoriae. During the ice age the entire area was ice covered. The glacier left relics in the surroundings e.g. moraines. Thus the talus covering the slopes adjoining the village contains essentially eroded materials of glacial and erosional origin, with the angle of the talus gradually increasing with elevation from essentially zero to some 35°. The talus typically classifies on USCS as SM material, containing some 30 % fines, equal percentage of sand with the remainder being gravel and boulders. This constitutes the construction material.
