Modelling soil removal from snow avalanches: A case study in the North-Western Italian Alps

Snow avalanches can exert considerable erosive forces on soils. If a snow avalanche flows directly over bare ground, basal shear forces may scrape away and entrain soil. Sediments mix up with the avalanche body and may be found within the run-out snow deposit. Based on a previous field campaign aiming to quantify the amount of sediments trapped within avalanche bodies for the study site of Lavancher, in the Aosta Valley, NW-Italy, we developed here a soil erosion model, which we preliminarily applied to that site. An already developed and tested 1-D avalanche dynamics model was modified to include soil erosion. Soil removal was triggered according to two different mechanisms, namely excess of shear and critical velocity. We used equations from the available literature to model the shear stress exerted by the avalanche flow upon the ground underneath. Critical threshold for soil removal of either shear or velocity were also retrieved from the available literature, possibly depending upon soil texture and geotechnical properties. The model performs well in reproducing soil removal for three wet-dense avalanches that occurred in the study site.Use of excess of shear mechanism to evaluate erosion seems more robust, as less dependent upon flow velocity, utmost uncertain. Albeit more accurately measured events of soil eroding avalanches seem necessary to test its performance, the model can be used henceforth as a basis for further refinement concerning geomorphologic contribution of avalanches.

► We set up a model to mimick soil erosion by snow avalanches.
► We use both excess of shear and critical velocity erosion mechanism.
► Application to three avalanche events indicates acceptable performance.
► Excess of shear seems less sensitive to model's output than critical velocity.
► Soil water content and temperature may control rate of erosion.