In this project we investigate how lower gravity changes the way slopes fail and materials flow across planetary surfaces. Using a specially designed rotating drum filled with granular material and liquids, we conduct experiments aboard a parabolic aircraft that briefly simulates Martian, lunar, and asteroid gravity. During these 15–20 second low-gravity intervals, we measure how reduced gravity alters particle motion, friction, and flow dynamics and mobility. These experiments will help us better interpret landslides and other mass movements seen on planets and moons, where gravity is much weaker than on Earth.

• dr. Lonneke Roelofs

Debris flows are fast-moving landslides that can devastate people and property. In many regions they interact strongly with vegetation, but how this affects their hazardous impact is surprisingly poorly understood. I will develop innovative experimental techniques using live seedlings and 3D-printed trees, to systematically quantify debris flow – vegetation interactions for the first time. This work will demonstrate how we can use vegetation to minimize debris-flow hazards, and provides the scientific foundation for anticipation of debris-flow hazards as a result of changes in vegetation caused by wildfires, deforestation, forest diseases, and climate change.

• dr. Daniel Draebing
• dr. Jana Eichel
• Jil van Etten MSc
• Anna van den Broek MSc

Landforms on rocky solar system bodies may be similar in appearance to those on Earth, but may in fact be caused by disparate and so-far unknown processes with major implications for identifying volatiles in the solar system. We propose an ambitious and novel combination of satellite image interpretation and laboratory simulations in a low-pressure and temperature chamber to for the first time define the role of sublimating ices in mass wasting across the Solar System. Results may force us to rethink the origin of a myriad of extra-terrestrial landforms and improve planning of future Solar System observations and exploration.

• Sharon Diamant MSc

• dr. Susan Conway

Many communities in High Mountain Asia rely on meltwater from snow and glaciers, but rapid ice loss is destabilizing mountain landscapes. Melting glaciers expose loose sediments, create new lakes, and increase the risk of landslides, debris flows, and floods. This project studies what triggers these hazards and how climate change affects their likelihood, using field observations, machine learning, and physical modelling to better predict future risks.

• prof. dr. Walter Immerzeel
• Varvara Bazilova MSc

Landforms on planetary bodies may have formed by processes unknown to Earth, resulting in misinterpretation of the processes responsible for their formation. We propose an ambitious and novel combination of laboratory simulations in reduced pressure environments and numerical modelling to for the first time quantify the environmental and physical limits of extra-terrestrial mass flows resulting from sublimation and boiling of carbon dioxide and water. We strive to provide the basis for an improved understanding of planetary slope evolution, and provide a key step towards solving the long-lasting debate on martian gully formation.

• dr. Lonneke Roelofs

Every year debris flows cause many fatalities and damage in mountainous areas. Debris flows may grow by picking up material, and I will unravel the mechanisms of bed erosion by scale experiments and field measurements. This will facilitate more accurate debris-flow volume estimation, which enables better hazard prediction and mitigation. 

• Dr. Brian McArdell (WSL)
• Dr. Roland Kaitna (BOKU)
• Prof. Dr. Kimberly Hill (University of Minnesota)
• Prof. Dr. Alexander Densmore

This project focuses on landslide-tsunami interactions. The project aims to develop tools to predict and mitigate tsunami hazards worldwide, through a combination of physical modelling at Utrecht University and numerical model development (r.Avaflow) at the University of Bonn.

• Dr. Shiva Pudasaini (University of Bonn)

Two year fully funded fellowship from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research to gain international experience at a university outside the Netherlands, awarded to early career scientists that have just graduated or are about to graduate.

The objectives of this project are to unravel the spatio-temporal patterns of debris-flow fan evolution and their avulsion mechanism and tendency. A novel and complementary dataset of field reconstructions of the evolution of natural debris-flow fans and direct observations of debris-flow fan evolution in numerical models and physical scale experiments will be analysed to fulfil these objectives. Results will be combined to develop a model of debris-flow fan evolution and avulsion. This model will enable (1) identification of avulsion-prone alluvial fan types, (2) timely avulsion forecasting and (3) accurate prediction of future flow paths, resulting in increased efficacy of mitigation measures.