Numerical modeling of the Mount Meager landslide constrained by its force history derived from seismic data

Abstract We focus on the 6 August 2010 Mount Meager landslide that occurred in Southwest British Columbia, Canada. This 48.5 Mm 3 rockslide that rapidly changed into a debris flow was recorded by over 25 broadband seismic stations. We showed that the waveform inversion of the seismic signal making it possible to calculate the time history of the force applied by the landslide to the ground is very robust and stable, even when using only data from a single station. By comparing this force with the force calculated through numerical modeling of the landslide, we are able to support the interpretation of seismic data made using a simple block model. However, our study gives different values of the friction coefficients involved and more details about the volumes and orientation of the subevents and the flow trajectory and velocity. Our sensitivity analysis shows that the characteristics of the released mass and the friction coefficients all contribute to the amplitude and the phase of the force. Despite this complexity, our study makes it possible to discriminate the best values of all these parameters. Our results suggest that comparing simulated and inverted forces helps to identify appropriate rheological laws for natural flows. We also show that except for the initial collapse, peaks in the low‐frequency force related to bends and runup over topography changes are associated with high‐frequency generation, possibly due to an increased agitation of the granular material involved.