Contemporary Characterization and Modeling of Earth Processes: A Multidisciplinary Approach

About this Research Topic

Background

Characterization and modelling of earth processes lies in the focus of every modern approach in Earth Sciences. Concerning the variety in the nature of the processes themselves (landslides, rockfalls, earthquakes and climate changes), variability of the causing factors, differences in the extent of the effects and corresponding hazards and risks, the sole application of earth science concepts, methods and tools do not always lead to reliable characterization and establishment of the models. Therefore, there is a justified need to apply a multidisciplinary approach, which will bring an added value to the process of characterization and modelling of earth processes and enable derivation of the models with a clear theoretical background and practical significance.

This Research Topic focuses on two main points: characterization and modeling. Although these two points could be considered as a single (modeling) in a wider sense, we feel it is necessary to distinguish these two phases for the following reasons. Characterization provides a clear input for the modeling process, and therefore it is the required and necessary condition in order to create a reliable model. Once the constitutive elements are characterized in a proper way, further modeling will be free of any uncertainties regarding the input factors (or their level of uncertainty would be significantly decreased) and one could focus on the modeling process per se, i.e., on establishing the reliable, statistically significant and physically possible relations between the main controlling factors. Major challenges in characterization and modeling lie in:

• Different mechanical properties of soil/rock in situ, which do not enable their exact characterization, requiring the generalization through appropriate classification systems;
• Inaccessibility of direct monitoring of the process itself (earthquakes); and
• Time-changing and often chaotic evolution of dynamical systems describing the earth processes (climate change processes).

The following earth processes are included within this topic: landslides, rockfalls, earthquakes and climate change processes, as the most frequent earth processes which affect the largest population in the world. This topic focuses on the following: rock/soil characterization, rockfall modeling, soft computing models of landslides, application of remote sensing methods in characterization of landslides and rockfalls, nonlinear dynamical models of landslides and earthquakes and models based on chaos theory, and climate change models. We particularly encourage studies and research with a strong accent on multidisciplinary approach towards the earth processes’ characterization and modeling. We also encourage research works related to the design and construction of engineering works, where earth processes can directly or in long term influence its integrity.

Keywords: rockfalls, earthquakes, liquefaction, climate change models, nonlinear dynamics, rock mass characterization, soft computing, landslides

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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